Abcellute and GeneFrontier have signed an exclusive agreement for the manufacture, marketing and distribution of Abcellute's preserved hepatocyte products into Japan
GeneFrontier is also permitted to establish sub-licences with pharmaceutical and similar companies actively involved in the pre-clinical evaluation of new candidate drugs, for their internal use of the Abcellute cell preservation technology.
"The contract signed today is a significant milestone in Abcellute's strategy to extend the adoption of its cell preservation technology platform on a global basis.
"We are delighted that the pharmaceutical industry in Japan, through our relationship with GeneFrontier, will now have immediate and direct access to the technology", commented Alex Watson, Abcellute's chief executive officer.
"The agreement with Abcellute marks a huge first step to introduce Abcellute's proprietary cell preservation technology applied to hepatocytes into the Japanese pharmaceutical market.
"This technology permits pharmaceutical companies to perform pre-clinical toxicology evaluations of new candidate drugs using hepatocytes which are preserved at non-freezing temperatures for the working week and which exhibit cell viability and metabolic activity in keeping with freshly isolated hepatocytes", commented Makoto Ogasawara, president and CEO of GeneFrontier.
"We are convinced that today's announcement will increase the awareness of Abcellute's innovative cell preservation technology, which has the potential to add efficacy to the pre-clinical evaluation process in Japan, resulting in shortening the lengthy drug-discovery processes".
Abcellute was founded in 2001 and is a spinout from the School of Biosciences, Cardiff University.
The company's core platform technology permits the preservation and storage of fresh primary hepatocytes for up to five days at non-freezing temperatures without loss of biological function or principle biomarkers.
Preservation is achieved through the immersion of the cells in a unique matrix which coats and protects them.
The retention of total cell integrity and full profile of drug metabolising enzymes (including Phase II) provides the first effective solution to the needs of the pharmaceutical industry, in the pre-clinical evaluation (Admet) of new drug candidates.
Prior to use, the cells are re-activated and subsequently behave as normal fresh cells, retaining their 'intact whole organ' characteristics.
