Stem Cells in Predictive Toxicology

There is a broad consensus in the biopharmaceutical industry and within the regulatory authorities, that a significant improvement of the current in vitro test methodologies for accurate assessment and prediction of drug effects is required. The need for an improved and uniform physiological response, normal genotype, and growth pattern has redirected drug discovery efforts towards stem cells, which are cost effective and provide reproducible results. Also, the role of stem cells in many chronic diseases such as cancer, birth defects and other developmental disorders demands for stem cell based toxicity studies.

Freshly harvested and expanded primary cells from tumors and/or from other biological material, with good in vitro/in vivo correlation can be used as an alternative to the established cell lines and we look forward to develop such primary cell based testing platforms to be used in the fields of both cancer and cardiovascular biology.