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Stem cell firm founder dies of melanoma
David Collinson, founder and former chief executive of stem cell research company Living Cell Technologies Ltd, which aims to commercialise a treatment for human diabetes from pig cells, died from melanoma on 7 August.LCT co-founder and company medical director Professor Bob Elliott met Mr Collinson when, as a doctor, he had to tell Mr Collinson that his two-year-old son had Type 1 diabetes.
Professor Elliott had an interest in transplanting insulin-producing cells into animals, and Mr Collinson offered to bankroll further research. In 1987 Diatranz, LCT’s predecessor, was formed. Mr Collinson was to spend his time fundraising fulltime and, with shareholder Stephen Tindall, invested millions in LCT.
He attributed an experimental treatment from the Malaghan Institute for helping extend his life. His son has not yet qualified for LCT’s drug trials, but Mr Collinson saw the start of a New Zealand clinical trial after a trial in Russia reported insulin production in two of eight subjects.
Professor Elliott said Mr Collinson had put millions into LCT. “It would have gone under on many occasions if he hadn’t stepped in and written the cheques.”
The company had a major breakthrough in June when Health Minister Tony Ryall approved clinical trials transplanting pig islet cells into eight people with Type 1 at Middlemore Hospital, Auckland.
In July Mr Collinson attended the opening in Invercargill of LCT's first dedicated quarantine pig farm to breed piglets to be slaughtered for tissue to be grafted into humans.
The first $2.5 million unit will house 50 pigs – and the company has said that it may build as many as 80 units in Southland.
"David had the vision of a radical approach to treating diabetes by replacing insulin producing cells lost as a result of the disease."
Mr Collinson, an honorary member of the Royal Society of New Zealand, is survived by wife Jenny, son Simon and daughter Natalie.
Published on this website on Wed, 02 Sep 2009