Vertex Law

VivoMedica plc (AIM:VVM) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a collaborative agreement with Cellartis AB to extend VivoMedica’s DrugPrint platform for use with cardiomyocytes derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESC). The combination of DrugPrintTM‘s sophisticated proprietary waveform analysis with a novel human heart cell model for measuring drug induced effects is expected to provide hitherto unprecedented discriminatory power in cardiac safety screening.
 

DrugPrintTM is a preclinical tool for the early identification of potentially fatal cardio-toxic side effects of lead compounds in the drug discovery process.  
 

The agreement between VivoMedica plc and Cellartis AB, a Swedish/British biotechnology company leading in the development of hESC technologies for drug discovery research, toxicity testing, and regenerative medicine, entails a study to evaluate drug-induced changes on hESC-derived heart cells. Cellartis is the world’s largest single source of defined hESC, and has developed more than thirty well-documented hESC lines.  
 

Dr Johan Hyllner, CSO of Cellartis AB, commented, "There is a great need for improved and clinically relevant in vitro models for predicting adverse effects of new drugs. Human stem cell based models in combination with advanced hard and software have the potential to meet this need.” 
 

Peter Leyland, CEO of VivoMedica, commented, “The evaluation of the safety and toxicity profiles of new drugs, and indeed existing drugs, on the heart has become a paramount concern to the pharmaceutical industry. 

This collaboration is an exciting opportunity to combine our revolutionary technologies to develop a solution that could deliver significant benefits to the pharmaceutical industry."
 

Irfan Baluch, Head of the Technology & Media team at Vertex Law said, “We have worked closely with VivoMedica to put in place a practical and balanced framework for co-operation between these two companies who are operating at the forefront of technology in a hugely important field. We feel that it is essential to try and negotiate 'commercial' agreements which encourage rather than stifle innovation.”