Hepregen Launches First Human HepatoPac™ Assay Kit
Complete the form below to unlock access to ALL audio articles.
At the Society of Toxicology's 53rd Annual Meeting, Hepregen Corporation has announced the commercial launch of the company's first HepatoPacT kit designed specifically for toxicology applications.
The kit contains one or more standard 96-well tissue culture plates featuring specially configured micro-patterned human liver cells co-cultured with stromal cells.
The liver cells (hepatocytes) on these plates mirror the behavior of liver cells in the body, enabling scientists to generate data that can be useful for prediction of toxic responses to chemical agents, including drug candidates.
The application-directed platform also provides a tool for the study of the mechanisms leading to such responses.
Jack McGeehan, Hepregen's Vice President of Operations, stated, "The hepatocytes in this specially configured product remain viable for weeks at a time, and they exhibit full functionality during this extended time period. This longevity means that the product may be useful for the study of chronic exposure to drug candidates and other new chemical entities, reflecting what likely could occur when humans are exposed to such agents for long periods. Because the hepatocytes also are fully active metabolically, investigators can evaluate toxicity associated with metabolites of these chemical entities in a single experiment."
Dr. Vincent Zurawski, Hepregen's Chief Executive Officer, stated, "This new kit is the first version of a human HepatoPacT application-directed kit that is focused on the in vitro toxicology market. In the coming months, aiming to serve this growing market, Hepregen also expects to be introducing more advanced HepatoPacT toxicology products, some of which are currently in development. The launch adds another product to the company's portfolio, which includes human, rat, monkey, human triple-donor and rat-human HepatoPacT application-directed kits for metabolite identification and profiling, and a recently introduced human kit to evaluate metabolic stability."
