Presentations at the Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting Demonstrate Superior Predictivity of Cellular Dynamics' Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Human Cell Models for Drug Discovery and Toxicity Testing

MADISON, Wis., March 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Cellular Dynamics International, Inc. (CDI), the world's largest commercial producer of human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell lines and tissue cells for drug discovery and safety, today announced several customer presentations of studies employing the company's iCell® products at the Society of Toxicology (SOT) Annual Meeting on March 11 to 15 in San Francisco.  A number of these studies demonstrate the superior predictivity of CDI's human iPS cell-derived products compared to other cell models, such as animal models and immortalized cell lines, which are historically used in pharmaceutical drug discovery and toxicity testing.

Customers will present 11 abstracts employing CDI's human cells in their research during the SOT meeting.  Several of these compare the superior ability of CDI's iCell Cardiomyocytes and iCell Hepatocytes to predict toxic responses to currently available cell models. Among them: 

Puppala, D et al. (Abstract 420 Poster Board -642; Pfizer, Inc.) compared the ability of iCell Cardiomyocytes to a rat cardiac-derived cell line (H9C2) to predict the toxicity of 10 known in vivo cardiac toxins that were not flagged by the company's current in vitro assay systems. They found that iCell Cardiomyocytes showed increases in several toxicity signals and were more accurate in detecting cardiotoxicity than the rat cell line.

Guo, L et al. (Abstract 1168 Poster Board -433; Hoffman-La Roche) utilized sets of reference and internal compounds to determine the accuracy with which iCell Cardiomyocytes can predict arrhythmic effects.  Based on drug-induced changes in beating pattern, iCell Cardiomyocytes correctly identified 17 of 19 reference compounds known to cause abnormal ECG patterns in humans and 17 of 17 internal compounds known to cause arrhythmia in non-rodent animals. These results demonstrate the predictive value of utilizing iCell Cardiomyocytes to identify proarrhythmic compounds.

Hong, S et al. (Abstract 1149 Poster Board -414; Bristol-Myers Squibb) evaluated the effects of three drug compounds using both iCell Cardiomyocytes and fetal rat cardiomyocytes utilizing multi-electrode array (MEA) assays.  For all three compounds, iCell Cardiomyocytes were better suited than the fetal rat cardiomyocytes at predicting adverse in vivo effects, including those effects that were not discovered until small-scale clinical trials.

Kameoka, S et al. (Abstract 519 Poster Board -237; Hoffman-La Roche) compared the toxicity of three drug candidates previously tested on dog hepatocytes to iCell Hepatocytes and primary human hepatocytes.  In dogs, two of the three compounds caused liver toxicity. The profiles of the two toxic compounds were almost identically recapitulated in vitro for both the primary human hepatocytes and iCell Hepatocytes.  This study demonstrated that iCell Hepatocytes may be a valuable human model to predict hepatic toxicity in vitro.

Additional SOT presentations employing CDI's iCell products can be found on the SOT Annual Meeting website or at http://www.cellulardynamics.com/sot2012/posters.html.

"These studies are important contributors to the collective understanding that human in vitro cellular model systems are superior to animal models and immortalized cell lines when studying questions of human biology," said Chris Parker, chief commercial officer of CDI.  "We recognize that iPS cell-derived tissues are a relatively new model for drug discovery and toxicity testing and must be validated and shown to be superior. It is gratifying that our pharmaceutical customers are presenting data validating the performance characteristics of our heart and liver cells in such an open scientific forum as the Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting. Third-party validation of iCell product performance coupled with CDI's proven ability to deliver human cells in the quantity, quality and purity required for pharmaceutical, biomedical and basic research positions us well for supplying customers with the human cells they need to improve healthcare."

About Cellular Dynamics International, Inc.
Cellular Dynamics International, Inc. (CDI) is a leading developer of next-generation stem cell technologies for drug development, cell therapy, tissue engineering and organ regeneration. CDI harnesses its unique manufacturing technology to produce differentiated tissue cells from any individual's stem cell line in industrial quality, quantity and purity. CDI is accelerating the adoption of pluripotent stem cell technology, adapting its methods to fit into standard clinical practice by the creation of individual stem cell lines from a standard blood draw. CDI was founded in 2004 by Dr. James Thomson, a pioneer in human pluripotent stem cell research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. CDI's facilities are located in Madison, Wisconsin. See www.cellulardynamics.com.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Joleen Rau  
Senior Director, Marketing & Communications
Cellular Dynamics International, Inc.
608 310-5142
[email protected]

Robert E. Flamm, Ph.D.
Russo Partners LLC
212-845-4226
[email protected]

Tony Russo
Russo Partners LLC
212-845-4251
[email protected]

SOURCE Cellular Dynamics International, Inc.