Patent Number: 12,385,012 B2
Filing Date: March 12, 2021
Issue Date: August 12, 2025
Assignee: Fate Therapeutics, Inc.
Inventors: Bahram Valamehr, Raedun Clarke, Ryan Bjordahl
What This Patent Covers
This patent protects proprietary culture platforms, cell media, and differentiation methods that enable the efficient production of hematopoietic lineage cells from pluripotent stem cells — including induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The key aspects include:
- Culture Platforms & Media: Novel systems for culturing pluripotent stem cells that support feed‑free, monolayer growth and differentiation, simplifying production and improving consistency.
- Hematopoietic Differentiation Methods: Methods to convert engineered pluripotent cells into hematopoietic stem cells and progenitors, including T cell, NK cell, and other blood cell lineages relevant to immunotherapies.
- Differentiated Cell Compositions: Protection over the pluripotent stem cell‑derived cells themselves, such as induced hematopoietic stem cells (iHSCs) and immune progenitor populations produced by the claimed methods.
These innovations enhance the manufacturability and homogeneity of immunotherapy cell types derived from iPSCs — a central technological pillar of Fate’s off‑the‑shelf cellular immunotherapy platform.
Why This Patent Is Important
1) Core Platform Protection
This patent strengthens intellectual property for Fate’s iPSC programming and differentiation technology, which is at the heart of its strategy to produce uniform, off‑the‑shelf CAR‑T and CAR‑NK cell therapies that can be mass manufactured rather than individually derived from patients.
2) Supports Multiple Product Candidates
The patented methods underpin the production of many of Fate’s pipeline candidates, including CAR T and CAR NK therapies such as FT819 and FT522, by enabling controlled differentiation into therapeutic immune cells that are key for treating cancer and autoimmune diseases.
3) Manufacturing Efficiency & Commercial Scalability
The ability to differentiate iPSCs into target immune cells more reliably and at scale is a critical commercial advantage — especially for allogeneic (“off‑the‑shelf”) therapies that aim to reduce cost, improve access, and expand patient reach compared with traditional autologous approaches.
4) Long‑Term Exclusivity for Platform Tech
Although this patent was filed in 2021, its issuance in 2025 extends Fate’s platform protection well into the 2030s, helping to safeguard its core manufacturing technology and enhance the company’s bargaining power in collaborations or licensing deals.
Fate’s broader intellectual property portfolio includes other issued patents (e.g., related to pluripotent cell maintenance and engineered effector cell compositions) that further support its iPSC‑based product strategies.
This particular patent on hematopoietic differentiation stands out because it enables the fundamental transformation of pluripotent cells into functional immune cells — a foundational step for commercializing many of the company’s therapeutic candidates.
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