WALKERSVILLE, Md., Feb. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cambrex Bio Science
Walkersville, Inc., a subsidiary of Cambrex (NYSE: CBM) and the world's
leading provider of cell systems, announced today that its client Chugai
Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. completed their assessment of certain of its
Clonetics(R) Conditionally Immortalized Cell Lines under the previously
announced evaluation license and signed a one-year renewable license agreement
to use a cell line in Chugai pharmaceutical drug discovery programs. Chugai
is the first company to license this technology in Japan.
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"In the post genomic era, drug discovery research using human cells is
becoming more and more important. Our research laboratory has validated that
the Clonetics(R) Conditionally Immortalized Cell Strains maintain feature and
function for a long period of time. As a result, Chugai has decided to license
the cell strains for our drug discovery research program for metabolic
diseases. We believe this will speed the drug discovery process and lead to
the development of more valuable drugs," commented Dr. Tatsuo Miyauchi, Vice
President and General Manager of Research Division, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co.,
Ltd.
"Clonetics(R) Conditionally Immortalized Cell Lines support relevant and
more efficient drug discovery by helping researchers identify poor drug
candidates early and find the best candidates faster," commented Shawn
Cavanagh, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cambrex Bioproducts
business. "We are confident the cell line will positively impact the
productivity of the Chugai Pharmaceutical drug discovery program."
Under the terms of the renewable license agreement, Chugai Pharmaceutical
Company will use one of the conditionally immortalized cell lines for a period
of one year in their pharmaceutical drug discovery program. The license
agreement has been lead by Cambrex's exclusive distributor in Japan,
GeneFrontier Corporation. Further financial details of the agreement are not
disclosed.
The licensed cell lines were created using a clone of a specially modified
large T antigen and licensed telomerase technology. Cambrex continues to
invest in several programs to conditionally immortalize different cell types
critical to understand and manage metabolic disease.
Conditionally immortalized cells can be generated in volumes sufficient
for high throughput screening (HTS), are homogenous and express normal markers
similar to primary cells, thus managing the key limitations of primary cells
in drug discovery. Conditional immortalization allows cells to divide
indefinitely, retain normal function and appearance, and produce uniform cell
populations for functional cell-based assays and long-term gene expression
studies. Availability of these cell lines will speed drug discovery by
eliminating the cell senescence barriers that make high throughput screening
of primary cells impractical.
For more information on Cambrex cell lines, please contact: D.G.
Ferneyhough, Segment Manager, Cell Biology, 301-898-7025, extension 2417,
d.ferneyhough@cambrex.com.
About Cambrex Bio Science Walkersville, Inc.
Cambrex Bio Science Walkersville, Inc., a Cambrex subsidiary and the world
leader in the technical development of cell systems and cell lines, provides
hundreds of normal primary derived cells, adult stem cells, separation systems
and cell culture media that are manufactured and tested to provide optimum
performance. Cell-based assays for toxicology testing, molecular biology
tools, products and services for endotoxin detection and serum-free media are
also available. Cambrex Bio Science Walkersville, Inc. is the foremost
contract service provider to emerging cell therapy companies.
About Cambrex Corporation
Cambrex is a global, diversified life sciences company dedicated to
providing products and services to accelerate and improve the discovery and
commercialization of human therapeutics. The Company employs approximately
1900 worldwide. For more information, please visit http://www.cambrex.com.
SOURCE Cambrex Corporation
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http://www.cambrex.com
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CONTACT:
D.G. Ferneyhough, Segment Manager, Cell
Biology, +1-301-898- 7025, ext. 2417, d.ferneyhough@cambrex.com
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