|
| |
Plasticell - Latest Research Shows Proof of
Concept in the Development of New Drugs to Regenerate Damaged Tissues and Organs
London, 12 March 2009 … New research announced
today by Plasticell, a leading UK regenerative medicine biotech company,
shows how it is possible to identify novel small molecule drugs which
encourage the body to regenerate, potentially paving the way for the
development of pills for repairing organs damaged by disease or ageing.
Research presented today at the World Stem Cells and Regenerative
Medicine Conference in London shows how by using its novel screening
technology, CombiScreen™, Plasticell scientists were able to identify a
small molecule that stimulates progenitor cells, causing them to
differentiate into the type of cell needed for tissue repair.
Progenitor cells are specialised precursors of mature cell types found
in the body of the adult organism. Progenitors are rare and typically
turn over very slowly, replacing cells lost through normal attrition,
but, by stimulating with an appropriate molecule, tissue regeneration
can be enhanced.
Dr Yen Choo, CEO of Plasticell, said: “This data is very encouraging,
and heralds a new paradigm in the development of regenerative medicines,
potentially paving the way for new synthetic drugs that regenerate
damaged organs and tissues. Using our proprietary technology CombiScreen™,
we were able to identify a small molecule that acts on progenitor cells
to regenerate blood cells. By developing further assays to screen
pharmaceutical drug libraries we believe it will be possible to develop
regenerative medicines to treat a variety of serious diseases affecting
other tissues such as the brain or heart.”
To demonstrate the new approach Plasticell, in collaboration with the
pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), sought to identify a small
molecule drug which mimics Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor (G-CSF),
a growth factor that stimulates bone marrow progenitors to produce
neutrophils, a type of white blood cell. Plasticell developed a robust
CombiScreen™ assay in which blood progenitors were generated in the
laboratory from embryonic stem cells, and using these it was able to
accurately identify the known test compound based on its ability to
produce neutrophils.
Plasticell believes that the identification of small molecules which act
on progenitor cells of the body will become a crucial area of focus for
the pharmaceutical industry which is looking for new ways to exploit the
promise of stem cells. Plasticell has filed a pioneering patent which
covers its innovative technology and the broader area of drug discovery
using progenitor stem cells.
Dr Choo’s talk is entitled ‘High throughput production of differentiated
cell lines for drug discovery’ and he will be speaking at 14.10 PM BST
on Tuesday 12 March.
-ends-
For further information, contact:
Tony Stephenson, Katie Odgaard, Ben Tan
College Hill Life Science
Tel: +44 (0)20 7274 2020
Email:
plasticell@collegehill.com
About Plasticell:
Plasticell is a mature biotech company focusing on the development of
small molecule drugs that act on progenitor cells, for use in
regenerative medicine. Using its unique technologies CombiScreen™ and
CombiCult™, Plasticell is able to identify molecules that encourage
progenitor cells to differentiate, potentially allowing for the
development of drugs that would stimulate damaged tissues or organs to
regenerate. Since its founding in 2002, Plasticell has filed a series of
patents to protect its proprietary technology, and includes two Nobel
Prize winners on its scientific advisory board.
About Plasticell’s technologies:
The pharmaceutical industry is increasingly looking for ways to harness
the potential of stem cells and regenerative medicine. Plasticell is
focused on enabling progress in these fields by increasing throughput in
stem cell experimentation, and enabling screening for small molecules
affecting the differentiation of progenitor cells. The estimated market
for regenerative small molecule drugs is in the multi-billion dollar
range.
Plasticell’s CombiScreen™ technology uses in vitro generated progenitor
cells to screen small molecule libraries, in order to identify molecules
that cause differentiation of progenitors into specific cell types.
These small molecules have the potential to be used in therapeutics for
regenerative medicine. The first drug of this type, Promacta® (Eltrombopag),
is an orally-available, once daily treatment developed by GSK for the
regeneration of platelets for blood clotting.
Plasticell’s CombiCult™ is a novel bead-based high throughput screening
technology, used to establish optimal culture conditions for growth and
differentiation of stem cell lines. Colonies of cells are grown on the
surface of microscopic beads, which are then shuffled in up to 100,000
different combinations through a series of different cell culture media.
The beads are fluorescently labelled at each stage, allowing the
elucidation of the different steps in the culture process.
| |
|
