Cellular Dynamics International Receives Grants from State of Wisconsin (Sep 26, 2005)
For IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Andrew Cohn
608 263-2821
Madison, WI--September 26, 2005—Cellular Dynamics International (CDI), a privately held Madison, Wisconsin based biotechnology company, announced today that the State of Wisconsin and its governor Jim Doyle have awarded CDI a $1,000,000 Technology Development Grant and a $1,000,000 Technology Development Loan.
CDI was founded by James Thomson, Craig January, and Timothy Kamp, noted researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Tactics II Ventures LP, a Wisconsin based venture capital firm.
The company will focus its research effort on utilizing human stem cells to develop cells for use in drug development and screening. Currently, many human cell types, such as heart cells, liver cells and nerve cells do not survive well or reproduce outside of a living human, making it impractical to use human cells to screen drug candidates in a laboratory. To substitute for human cells, drug companies test their drug candidates on live animals or cells harvested from animals. Unfortunately, animals and animal cells do not always react to drug candidates in the same ways as human cells do. CDI's technologies will for the first time provide researchers with the opportunity to test new drug candidates on live human cells, thereby improving the safety and effectiveness of new drugs. This technology has the potential to reduce research animal use in drug development and minimize the number of toxic reactions only discovered once new drugs are tested in patients
The company's first lines of screening services will center on improving the cardiac safety of new drugs. CDI's research and development will focus on commercializing technology developed by James Thomson and Timothy Kamp. Thomson and Kamp have developed a technique to reliably direct human ES cells to differentiate into actual human heart cells, cardiomyocytes. This new technique makes it possible to use human cardiomyocytes to screen drug candidates for both safety and effectiveness in a laboratory environment.
In the 1st Quarter of 2006, CDI also plans to launch cardiac safety screening services using HEK cells for hERG screening. HEK cells are derived not from stem cells, but from kidney cells that have been modified to have some of the electrical conductivity properties of human heart cells. HEK cell hERG screening was first developed at Wisconsin in the lab of Craig January. January's screening methodology is now widely accepted as a powerful technique for screening new drug candidates for potentially adverse side-effects on patient's hearts before new drugs are tried on animals and humans.
"We are thrilled that CDI is a recipient of the State of Wisconsin grant and loan and are grateful for the help of state government and Governor Doyle. Wisconsin is a great place to start and grow state of the art biotechnology companies. Support from the State government has been integral to the development of high tech start ups in Wisconsin. It has been a pleasure working with Governor Doyle and his staff. The State of Wisconsin is doing a great job of creating a business environment that encourages entrepreneurs to start companies in Wisconsin based on technologies invented here," said Bob Palay, Managing Member of Tactics II Ventures and Chairman of CDI. "We are excited to be building this company in Wisconsin with such renowned scientists as James Thomson, Craig January and Timothy Kamp. We believe that CDI is an exciting opportunity to utilize these new techniques to improve and protect human health. These novel drug screens promise to speed the development of many new safe and effective drugs."
"I've always been very proud of how strongly associated Wisconsin has become with the stem cell field," commented Thomson. "There is a tremendous opportunity for this field to benefit Wisconsin economically. But we face stiff competition from other states such as California and New Jersey, which are making very large public investments in stem cell research. The Wisconsin Department of Commerce grant and loan helps level the playing field. I hope that the legacy of CDI will be in that it demonstrates it is possible to set up a successful, profitable stem cell company in Wisconsin, and it will inspire others to set up businesses here too."
According to January, "In the last several years, biotechnology-based cell screening methods have assumed much greater importance. These methods have allowed for the early recognition of potential cardiac side-effects of new drug candidates. One direct result is that thousands of patients' lives have been saved. CDI's services will be focused on such life saving technologies."
"The opportunity to test new drugs on human cardiac muscle cells or other specific human cell types derived from stem cells in the laboratory has the potential to revolutionize drug development. Perhaps the greatest impact of this new technology will be to provide a higher level of safety in candidate drugs before they reach patients", commented Kamp.
About Tactics II Ventures LP
Tactics II Ventures LP is a Wisconsin based venture capital firm specializing in early stage life science companies. Its principals, Bob Palay and Tom Palay are founders of Madison based NimbleGen Systems and Genetic Assemblies.
About Thomson, January, and Kamp
James A. Thomson, V.M.D., Ph.D., Diplomate A.C.V.P
WiCell Research Institute.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School,
The Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, and
The Genome Center of Wisconsin
Craig T. January, M.D., Ph.D
Professor of Medicine and Physiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School
Timothy J. Kamp, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine and Physiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School WiCell Research Institute.
For further information
Contact:
Nicholas J. Seay
Cellular Dynamics International
608-283-2484
E-mail: nseay@cellular-dynamics.com
