MultiCell Receives US Patent For Fa2N-4, Ea1C-35

MultiCell Technologies has been granted US patent: 7566567 by the US Patent and Trademark Office, covering its Fa2N-4 and Ea1C-35 immortalized human hepatocyte cell lines.

Reportedly, Fa2N-4 and Ea1C-35 immortalized human hepatocyte cell lines were derived from normal human liver cells, and are nontumorigenic, stable in culture. The cells can produce therapeutic plasma proteins in cell culture. The Fa2N-4 cell line has also been engineered to function as a proxy for normal human liver cells for use in performing drug toxicity assays.

MultiCell retained worldwide exclusive ownership of Fa2N-4 and Ea1C-35 cell lines for all applications other than ADME/Tox, including drug target identification and using the cell lines for the production of therapeutic plasma proteins.

The company said that it previously entered into a cooperative R&D agreement with Maxim Biotech to develop products for the study of human liver stem cells and human liver cancer.

Jerry Newmin, chairman and CEO of MultiCell Technologies, said: MultiCell intends to use its human liver cell and liver stem cell assets to identify therapeutic targets and new drug candidates specifically targeting the treatment of primary liver cancer and intrahepatic bile duct cancer. We believe our engineered human liver cell lines will play an important role as proxies for normal human liver cells in our effort to identify drug targets.