MADISON, Wis., March 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Cellular Dynamics
International (CDI) announced today that their two-year
collaboration with Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) to
substantiate CDI’s
iCell® Cardiomyocytes as a predictive tool for assessing
the potential cardiotoxic effects of developing drug candidates was
completed early and is now transitioning into a standard supply
agreement. Moving forward, iCell Cardiomyocytes, induced
pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived human heart cells, will be
incorporated into Roche’s drug development decision-making
process.
CDI and Roche initiated their collaboration in March 2009 to
interrogate CDI’s iCell Cardiomyocytes against a well-categorized
compound reference set intended to test the ability of the
cardiomyocytes to predict drug-induced, potentially
life-threatening, cardiac arrhythmias. These studies included
longitudinal genetic and molecular characterizations of the
cardiomyocytes and assessment of their performance across a variety
of established and novel testing platforms designed to detect
possible cardiotoxic effects of developing compounds early in their
development cycle. Multiple publications based on this
research are in preparation for submission to peer-reviewed
journals.
“This transition to a standard supply agreement is an important
milestone for CDI,” said Chris
Parker, Chief Commercial Officer of CDI. “CDI and Roche
have developed and demonstrated, respectively, a more efficient
tool to reveal potential cardiotoxicity in their drug development
candidates. iCell Cardiomyocytes have proven to provide value
to pharmaceutical drug discovery and development.”
Robert
Palay, CEO and Chairman
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