The Central Social Insurance Medical Council, which advises the health minister, on Wednesday approved the application of public health insurance to RiHeart, a cardiac muscle cell sheet that uses induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, effective on Sept. 1.

It is the second case of insurance coverage approval in the country for an iPS cell-derived regenerative medicine product.

Created by introducing specific genes into the cells of blood and skin, iPS cells are versatile in that they possess the ability to grow into the cells of various tissues and organs.