Stem cells and differentiation – a synoptic review of patents granted since 2009

Introduction: Innovations in human pluripotent stem cell research and their application in therapeutics have seen a giant leap in the past decade. Patent applications related to human pluripotent stem cell generation, culture and differentiation show an ever-increasing trend worldwide with hundreds of patents being applied for every year. With the turn of the second decade in stem cell patenting, a review of the latest patents issued will be significant.Areas covered: The growing need in healthcare sector has revolutionized stem cell application in clinical therapeutics by extending in unprecedented dimensions. With the potential of being able to differentiate into any desired adult cell lineage, human pluripotent stem cells find a wide range of applicability in clinical as well as cosmetic therapy. Moreover, the recent innovation of isolating a disease-specific pluripotent stem cell has opened new horizons to stem cell application in cell therapy. This review gives an overview of significant internationa...