Axiogenesis negotiated a nonexclusive worldwide license to human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology developed at the Centre for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) at the University of Kyoto. The firm said it is the first European company to receive a license to the iPSC technology, which allows the development of cardiomyocytes and other cell types. The deal has been negotiated through the stem cell commercialization organization iPS Academia Japan.
Axiogenesis said that combining the newly licensed IP with its own murine stem cell-derived tissue technology will both allow the development of new predictive disease models and provide new opportunities in areas including drug development and safety pharmacology. It anticipates launching the first human iPSC-derived service in August, in the form of its Cor.4U-MEA service, based on the use of cardiomyocytes microelectrode array technology for physiological compound profiling.
Axiogenesis specializes in the development of novel assays using differentiated mouse embryonic stem cell (ES) and also mouse and now human iPSC-derived cell types. It claims to be the only company covering both murine and human in vitro model systems. Offering products and services based on its technologies, Axiogenesis says it has to date developed over 25 individual ES and iPSC cell lines, along with protocols for their cultivation into more than 15 different tissues.
The firm's Cor.AT® stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes and Endo/At® endothelial cells are marketed worldwide by Lonza. The firm’s assays are currently focus on cardiomyoctyes, but the development of test systems utilizing stem cell-derived hepatocyte, neuronal, endothelial, and dermal cells is also a priority, it claims.