Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) and Promega have entered into a research collaboration to bring predictive in-vitro toxicity testing to the drug discovery process.
Currently CDI has validated a panel of cell-based cytotoxicity assays from Promega that use CDI’s human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell-derived iCell Cardiomyocytes. CDI and its pharmaceutical collaborators have begun validating such assays in order to incorporate them into their routine discovery programs.
CDI has presented data at the recent Society of Toxicology and the Society of Biomolecular Science conferences demonstrating that Promega’s multiplexed biomarker assays for cytotoxicity and cell viability can be used to identify known toxic agents with similar sensitivity as reported in the published literature.
Pharmaceutical discovery scientists will be able to combine bioassays with human cardiomyocytes to improve prediction of unintentional, detrimental side effects that have previously remained undetected until late in the development process or after release of the drug to the general public.
Chris Parker, chief commercial officer of CDI, said: “Pharmaceutical customers recognize the importance of using human models to perform their studies but up until recently, human cell models that exhibited true human biology in vitro were difficult to come by.
“We have several pharmaceutical customers who’ve validated in vitro cardiotoxicity assays using iCell Cardiomyocytes, which have correlated well with previous data from cardiotoxicity studies in animal-based models.”
Headquartered in Madison, USA, Promega is a provider of solutions and technical support to the life sciences industry. The company’s products enable scientists to advance their knowledge in genomics, proteomics, cellular analysis, molecular diagnostics and human identification.