German chemical giant Bayer AG applied for a patent in Japan on June 15, 2007, for a technique to generate induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, from human cells, according to Patent Office data.
The application was submitted around three months before a team led by Kyoto University professor Shinya Yamanaka announced the successful generation of iPS cells from human cells.
If the patents are granted to Bayer, patent rights will become complicated and could affect the government's policy to promote iPS cell studies, observers said.
The data showed that Bayer submitted patent applications for more than one method, in addition to the technique employed by the Kyoto University team.
In June 2006, the Kyoto University team said it succeeded in generating iPS cells, which have the potential to grow into any type of body tissue, from somatic cells in mice without using ova.