The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation announced Friday two licensing agreements regarding human embryonic stem cell research.

At a press conference attended by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, Carl Gulbrandsen, managing director of WARF, announced two agreements. WARF and ES Cell International, Singapore and Melbourne, Australia made an agreement allowing ES Cell International to distribute the stem-cell technology for worldwide use in research. This is the first license agreement signed by WARF with a commercial provider listed on the National Institute of Health Stem Cell Registry.

?We are very pleased to announce this agreement with ES Cell International, which will enable researchers worldwide to pursue studying human embryonic stem cells,? Gulbrandsen said. ?It is WARF?s goal to enable scientists? access to a wide variety of cells to move embryonic stem-cell discovery forward as fast as possible.?

Gulbrandsen said the agreement will aid scientists and researchers by expanding their options.

?This agreement will provide more choices for researchers. Only by increasing the number of scientists working in this field will these researchers bring the tomorrow of medicine closer today,? he said.

Thompson expressed the importance of the agreement and international cooperation.

?This announcement is further vindication of the U.S. government?s approach to embryonic stem-cell research,? Thompson said.

He continued, ?The full potential of embryonic stem-cell research, and ultimately the development of therapeutic products, will only be achieved through a cooperative international research undertaking involving coordination between and commercial laboratories.?

WARF is the technology transfer organization for UW-Madison and holds the patent to Dr. James Thompson?s discovery of human embryonic stem cells. ES Cell International Pte Ltd. is a regenerative medicine company focusing on developing therapeutic products from stem cells.