July 1, 2011
Cellartis' stem cell-derived human heart muscle cells represent a viable alternative to animal testing.
JULY 1st, 2011, Gothenburg, Sweden
Cellartis AB, a premier provider of stem cell-derived products and technologies, today announced that the company’s product, hES-CMC™, has been demonstrated to represent a viable alternative to animal experimentation. The hES-CMC™ are human heart muscle cells derived from human pluripotent stem cells. In a new study, published in British Journal of Pharmacology, the authors demonstrate the utility of hES-CMC™ for accurate detection of negative drug-induced side effects on the heart, and the data are comparable to the results obtained using animal models. This data is especially significant, and reinforces the growing body of scientific evidence built by Cellartis and its many partners over previous years demonstrating the utility and benefits of working with hES-CMC™.
The pharmaceutical industry is struggling with late stage drug attrition due to adverse cardiovascular side effects. Frontloading of clinically relevant and predictive models early in the drug development process represents a solution to this situation. Today, many assays are based on the use of experimental animals and alternatives are needed also from ethical and economical perspectives. “We are very pleased and excited that our hES-CMC™ were shown to recapitulate the results obtained using animal models” says Johan Hyllner, Chief Scientific Officer of Cellartis. “The data underscores that hES-CMC™ are an attractive alternative for in vivo models as they combine sufficient sensitivity with high specificity.” continues Johan Hyllner.
The full text of the paper (senior author: Prof. Dr. Marc A Vos) can be found here: “Comparison of IKr blocking drugs Moxifloxacin and Dofetilide/E-4031 in 5 screening models of pro-arrhythmia reveals insufficient specificity of isolated cardiomyocytes”