Biopharmaceutical company Athersys (NASDAQ: ATHX) received a major boost in its stock price on February 10th, following the announcement that it had received US and European patents related to its MultiStem technology. Guess there’s nothing investors like more than learning your company has dibs on stem cells. MultiStem is a product that is essentially non-embryonic multipotent stem cells derived from the bone marrow of select human donors. Athersys is able to take these donated stem cells, isolate them, grow them, and then process them so they can be used in patients. A single donor could provide enough MultiStem doses for hundreds of thousands if not millions of recipients! Just as impressive, no immunosuppression or donor matching is needed when using MultiStem. Athersys is hoping to make their product the stem cell equivalent of Type O blood and is working with Pfizer, Angiotech and others to develop specific treatments. Let’s hope Athersys’s bump in stock price is a good sign that safe and effective stem cell treatments are coming to the mainstream soon.