MultiCell Licenses Fa2N-4 Cell Line to Eisai Japan for Drug Discovery/ADMETOX Applications
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MultiCell Technologies, Inc. has executed a five year licensing agreement with Eisai Co., Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan.
MultiCell has granted Eisai a 5-year nonexclusive license to use MultiCell's Fa2N-4 immortalized human hepatocyte cells and MFE™ culture media for drug discovery/ADMETOX applications at Eisai's Tsukuba Research Laboratories, located in Japan.
"Eisai has been using our Fa2N-4 cells and culture media for several years under a sub-license agreement granted by XenoTech LLC, our previous licensee. Our new, direct agreement with Eisai is another validation of the value of our proprietary immortalized cell lines for drug discovery/ADMETOX applications," stated Dr. Stephen Chang, President and Chief Executive Officer of Multicell Technologies.
A fundamental understanding of how the body metabolizes and reacts to drugs will lead to the creation of safer and more effective medicines. Cytochrome P450s (CYPs) are a family of phase I liver enzymes that catalyze the primary metabolism of most drugs. CYP3A4 is responsible for the metabolism of at least 40% of all ingested drugs.
Pharmacological induction of CYPs and related drug metabolizing enzymes often leads to drug-drug interactions and/or altered metabolism and clearance of the drug itself.
MultiCell's immortalized human hepatocytes, when used in combination with the Company's serum-free MFE™ culture medium, are the ideal liver cells to reliably predict CYP induction and hepatotoxicity. MultiCell's immortalized human hepatocyte cell lines continue to express multiple inducible CYPs, including CYPs 1A2, 2B6, 2C9 and 3A4.
