In Vitro ADMET Laboratories and Taconic announce alliance to offer humanized and knock-out mouse hepatocytes

COLUMBIA, Md.—In Vitro ADMET Laboratories LLC (IVAL) and Taconic announced an agreement in late March under which IVAL will prepare cryopreserved hepatocytes derived from Taconic’s knockout and genetically humanized mouse models for use in preclinical drug development research. The resulting plateable cryopreserved hepatocytes will be a commercial product available from either company.

Using hepatocytes from Taconic’s translational mouse models, researchers can leverage in-vitro assays to facilitate experimental design and data analysis of in-vivo transgenic animal studies. The transgenic hepatocytes can also be used to conduct targeted in-vitro investigations to assess the contribution of specific proteins toward the absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity characteristics of new compounds. Examples of the key proteins are drug transporters and drug metabolizing enzymes.

As the companies noted in their announcement, cryopreserved hepatocytes are “now considered the ‘gold standard’ for critical experiments in drug development including drug metabolism, drug-drug interactions, toxicity assessment and most recently, drug-transporter interactions,” and IVAL noted that it has extensive experience in isolating and cryopreserving human and animal hepatocytes. Reportedly, the company’s proprietary cryopreservation procedures successfully preserve many of the attributes of fresh hepatocytes that are often lost during the cryopreservation process.

“We are extremely enthusiastic about this alliance that leverages the unparalleled hepatocyte technologies of IVAL and the world’s leading transgenic technologies of Taconic,” stated Dr. Albert P. Li, President and CEO of IVAL. “The transgenic hepatocytes will complement our current portfolio of hepatocyte products and greatly facilitate scientific research, especially in drug discovery and development.”

“The collaboration agreement with IVAL is Taconic’s most recent step to expand its tADMET portfolio, a unique collection of in-vivo and in-vitro tools applied in preclinical DMPK and safety testing,” said Todd Little, Taconic president and CEO. “The commercial supply of hepatocytes derived from Taconic’s proprietary genetically-engineered tADMET mouse models is an ideal complement to our toolbox of genetic and tissue humanized rodent models.”