CHIBA, JAPAN, November 22, 2010—Transparent Inc. announced that it has developed a more advanced medium for Cell-able (http://www.cell-able.com), a human hepatocyte array kit that has the potential to reduce drug development costs and time-to-market for pharmaceutical companies. Transparent first introduced Cell-able in the United States a year ago.
The new medium enables frozen human primary hepatocytes to maintain metabolite activity at a significantly higher level. Using the previous version of Cell-able’s medium, CYP3A enzyme activity in a platable lot of frozen human primary hepatocytes demonstrated that the ratio in cell suspension dropped to 1-2% on the seventh day. However, the new medium has managed to improve the ratio to 10-40%. UGT enzyme activity has also shown the same type of improvement. These factors indicate that Cell-able can create an in vivo environment.
The Cell-able array enables the formation, from human liver cells, of 3D structures that mimic liver tissue and can sustain functions for four weeks or more. The product allows researchers to evaluate multiple liver functions using one test plate. “We have received many inquiries about Cell-able since launching it last year in the U.S., and orders are coming in,” said Transparent President Takeshi Ikeya. “We anticipate a big demand from pharmaceutical companies and research organizations for Cell-able because it enables faster, more reliable analysis of liver functions, which is crucial in new drug development.”
About Cell-able
Cell-able is a hepatocyte spheroid array kit that enables the formation of 3D structures that mimic liver tissue on standard culture plates. It provides a novel liver evaluation system for developing new compounds by offering more efficient and advanced testing of new drug pharmacokinetics and safety. Cell-able was developed through a collaboration between Transparent Inc. and Toyo Gosei Co., Ltd., one of Japan’s leading manufacturers of photosensitive materials for semiconductors, which provided plate surface control technology.
About Transparent Inc.
Transparent Inc. produces plates for cell arrays and specialized culture media. The company incorporates bio-nano interface technology, cell culture technology and cell culture control technology to create a core technology that facilitates the use of cells in arrays for long-term culture in a highly active state. Since launching Cell-able internationally in 2009, Transparent Inc. has been exhibiting at conventions including SOX and ISSX. For more information, go to www.Cell-able.com
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