Latest News
Sep. 1st 2010, ReproCELL announces new line of products in neuronal research using human iPS cells
Since April 2009, ReproCELL has been manufacturing iPS cell-derived cardiomyocytes for drug toxicity testing as the world’s first drug discovery support business provider founded on iPS cells. The prospective new offering of neuronal cells is the second line of products to be introduced by the company, and is a considerable expansion of their scope of business. ReproCELL will be the first in the world to offer iPS cell derived neuronal cells, and, more specifically, will provide dopaminergic neurons, motor neurons, and cerebral nerves.
July 1st 2010, ReproCELL featured in Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News
An article in Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News, "Pharma's R&D Focus Shifting to Stem Cells -Investors' Interest in These Cells Increases as Scientists Continue to Unleash Their Potential" introduces ReproCELL's new cardiotoxicity assay using iPSCs, QTempo, as well as its neural stem cell research. --Article
Cellartis and ReproCELL Sign Agreement to Provide CardioToxicity screening service using hESC derived Cardiomyocytes
April 30th, 2009, Cellartis AB, a premier provider of stem cell derived products and technologies, and ReproCELL, a Japanese biotechnology company on the forefront of stem cell platforms and screening solutions, have today signed an agreement whereby ReproCELL can commercialise its QTempo Cardiotoxicity platform using beating human embryonic stem cell (hESC) derived Cardiomyocytes from Cellartis on a fee for service basis.
In this first of a kind deal, cardiotoxicity testing via the ReproCELL QTempo platform will be commercially available using live and beating hESC derived cardiomyocytes to provide more accurate models of in vivo physiology. It is expected that the QTempo platform will emerge as the next generation solution to commercial hERG screening, which represents the current
FDA gold standard for cardiac safety testing.
"This is a great moment for us, in terms of bundling our cell expertise with a screening platform for commercial means, and we are very pleased to partner with ReproCELL” said Mats Lundwall, CEO. "Ultimately, this deal reflects a trend we hope to continue as we build on our momentum and continue to reinforce the positivity felt for Cellartis and the stem cell space itself ".
ReproCELL’s CEO, Chikafumi Yokoyama, noted “Cardiotoxicity is a common cause of withdrawal drugs from the market. More accurate pre-clinical tests are vital for improving both patient safety and drug development efficiency. The combination of Cellartis’s hESC
cardiomyocyte technology with ReproCELL’s QTempo platform is an exciting development”.
16th April 2009. New Stem Cell Technology to Improve Drug Safety
iPS cardiomyocytes used in a novel cardiotoxicity assay
Drug side effects are a major problem for the drug industry. Even very rare events, when serious enough, can warrant drug withdrawal. Unfortunately, until a drug has been used by thousands of patients, these rare events can be impossible to predict.
Identifying drugs that can trigger heart attacks before they reach the clinic is a major focus of ReproCELL. Current tests, especially at early stages of drug development, tend to focus on one aspect of heart cell function - the hERG ion channel. But there are a whole range of other ion channels, as well as other possible issues, which hERG tests miss. ReproCELL has developed the QTempo assay to screen all cardiac ion channels and significantly reduce the chances of a cardiotoxic drug getting anywhere near a patient.
The QTempo test uses beating heart cells grown in a dish from stem cells. Similar to an ECG, these cells are attached to electrodes to measure their electrical activity as experimental drugs are added. Until recently, ethical issues surrounding human embryonic stem cells, had restricted QTempo to monkey heart cells. Now, under a license agreement between ReproCELL and iPS Academia, a human cell version is available. This is the first ever commercial test using iPS technology.
ReproCELL CEO, Chikafumi Yokoyama, commented “Drug companies usually prefer to see in-vitro data from human cells. Basing the test around human heart cells increases the relevance of QTempo. Not only will the improved test help to save patients lives, it will help reduce the huge amounts of effort drug companies waste on developing drugs that are later withdrawn”.
iPS Academia, KYOTO, JAPAN, was established to license iPS technology developed in the Kyoto lab of Shinya Yamanaka. iPS (induced Pluripotent stem cell) is a revolutionary new way of making embryonic-like stem cells from adult tissue.
ReproCELL, TOKYO, JAPAN, offers stem cell-focused products and services to researchers and health professionals. ReproCELL products are used in many of the world’s leading stem cell labs and were used in the development of the world’s first human iPS cells. ReproCELL has applied its stem cell expertise to the development of pre-clinical and clinical diagnostic tests to improve the development of drugs and monitoring of patients.
February 2nd 2009. Michael Jones joins ReproCELL as Chief Operating Officer.
ReproCELL has appointed Michael Jones as Chief Operating Officer with responsibility for technology licensing and international business development. Most recently, Dr Jones has been working as an independent consultant and venture advisor for Boston based Orion Healthcare Equity Partners. He has previously worked as head of Asia Pacific corporate development for Invitrogen and as a senior sceintist at Tokyo-based Chugai Pharmaceuticals. ReproCELL CEO, Dr Chikafumi Yokoyama commented “We are very happy to see Michael joining ReproCELL. I believe his expertise, experience and broad business network will add significant value to ReproCELL’S activities”.
November 5th 2008 ReproFF launched
ReproCELL anounces the lanuch of ReproFF, a new product for human stem cell research. Many stem cells require feeder cells which form a layer beneath them, helping to optimize culture conditions. Subsequent analysis and applications for the stem cells may be impaired by the feeder cells. ReproFF was developed specifically to enable a wide range of primate (including human) stem cells to be grown in feeder free conditions. ReproFF offers seamless adaptation from feeder culture to feeder free with industry leading levels of cell vilability. ReproFF ia made to the same exacting standards as ReproCELL’s “Primate ES cell culture medium” which has beomce a gold standard in ES and iPS research.
October 1st 2008 QTempo cardiotoxicity assay launched.
A major risk associated with new drugs is the occurrence of cardiotoxicity caused by off-target binding to heart cells. In addition to putting patients at risk, the financial consequences of drugs that cause such side effects can be significant. Over the last decade, assays focusing on the hERG protein have been developed. These hERG based assays manage to identify a majority of problem compounds before they reach the clinic. However, these tests still fail to detect many drugs that will cause adverse events in patients. QTempo is the world’s first commercially available assay that uses beating cardiomyocytes, hooked up to the lab equivalent of an ECG monitor, to accurately and sensitively to detect problem compounds. A mini ECG clearly flags suspect compounds as the cells are exposed to them. Yasuyuki Asai, ReproCELL’s chief technology officer, commented “Current assay techniques leave considerable room for improvement. Patients lives can be at risk from drugs that appear safe with the existing technologies. QTempo will provide the dual benefit of reduced costs for the drug development industry and improved safety for the patients”. QTempo is initially being offered as as service using Monkey ES derived cardiomyocytes. It is expected that future versions of QTempo will be offered with human cells.
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