Cellular Dynamics (CDI) has launched iCell Cardiomyocytes for use in testing of new drug candidates by the pharmaceutical industry. These human heart cells are designed to aid drug discovery and improve the predictability of drug compound efficacy and toxicity screens, weeding out ineffective and potentially toxic compounds early in the pharmaceutical pipeline process before significant time and resources have been invested.
iCell Cardiomyocytes are derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, spontaneously beat in-vitro and exhibit the electrophysiological and biochemical properties of normal human heart cells. iCell Cardiomyocytes are produced in-house by CDI from a master cell bank of iPS cells expanded from a single clonal population reprogrammed from fully mature human cells using Thomson’s patented technology.
The company said that based on strong intellectual property and exclusively licensed patents from several universities, CDI has developed a proprietary process to industrialise iCell Cardiomyocytes production so that the cardiomyocytes are manufactured at the high quantity, quality and purity required by pharmaceutical companies. CDI has successfully engaged in pre-launch validation testing with several pharmaceutical customers.
Chris Parker, chief commercial officer of CDI, said: ” With the launch of iCell Cardiomyocytes, we hope to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of preclinical research studies, so that our pharmaceutical customers are more assured of the safety and efficacy of their drug candidates and a better return on their research investment.”
Robert Palay, CEO of CDI, said: “Launching iCell Cardiomyocytes to the pharmaceutical industry is an important step for Cellular Dynamics. We have shown that we can manufacture and provide validated human iPS cell-derived terminally differentiated cardiomyocytes in the quantity and quality needed by our customers. We look forward to growing this product with our pharmaceutical customers and developing line extensions of iCell Cardiomyocytes, including panels with multiple iPS starting materials, as well as launching other iPS cell-derived iCell products.”