GLASGOW, SCOTLAND—(Marketwired – June 23, 2015) – SOLVO Biotechnology and Hepregen Corporation announced today, at the 13th European Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Xenobiotics (“ISSX”), a co–marketing agreement between the companies. This agreement provides for the European marketing of Hepregen's human, monkey, rat and dog application–directed HepatoPac® and HepatoMuneâ„¢ kits, which are used for liver metabolite analysis, transport studies and predictive and mechanistic toxicology studies. These kits contain human or animal hepatocytes (liver cells) in Hepregen's proprietary micro–patterned, co–culture microtiter tissue culture plates. This agreement provides SOLVO with the opportunity to make services available to its customers using these Hepregen products as well as HepatoPac® B–CLEAR® products co–developed by Hepregen and Qualyst Transporter Solutions.
“Hepregen's technology is a welcome addition to our world–recognized portfolio of products and services associated with transporter protein analysis”, said ErnÅ‘ Duda, SOLVO's chief executive officer. “As the transporter field matures, we see a growing need for physiologically relevant systems in addition to the established transfected models. Moreover, adding Hepregen's portfolio to ours provides us with an opportunity to broaden our offerings to customers into the important areas of drug metabolism and safety testing. Our partnership with Hepregen enhances SOLVO's ability to grow as a biotechnology enterprise.”
Dr. Vincent Zurawski, Hepregen's president and chief executive, stated, “This marketing partnership represents another step in Hepregen's unceasing effort to make our application–directed products and associated services available to customers around the world,” adding, “SOLVO's exceptional European sales capability is expected to dramatically augment our already growing European sales effort.”
About SOLVO Biotechnology
SOLVO was founded in 1999, pioneering the commercialization of transporter assays. Today, with over 15 years of experience, 80 transporter scientists, 40 of which are PhDs, and 450 clients in more than 40 countries, SOLVO is the leading worldwide provider of transporter assay Services and Products. During the past 15 years the company has developed more than 160 transporter assays, both in vitro as well as in vivo, based on the latest results in transporter science, the needs of the pharmaceutical industry and the guidelines for drug–drug interaction studies by the FDA, EMA and PMDA. The company has published more than 50 scientific papers, and performed thousands of assays in–house. With an in–house bio–analytical team, continuous R&D efforts, and highly specialized personnel, SOLVO supports transporter programs from discovery to development with unmatched quality and expertise.
About Hepregen Corporation
Hepregen Corporation is a leader in innovating unique and proprietary bioengineered micro–liver platforms for use in environmental testing, preventive care, and product development in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical, diagnostic, cosmetics, and chemical industries. The company's micro–liver HepatoPac®and HepatoMuneâ„¢ cell–based assays are intended to drive a paradigm shift in drug development. The utility of Hepregen's human, rat, monkey, dog, and multi–species/multi–donor HepatoPac® and HepatoMuneâ„¢ application–directed products has been validated in collaboration with investigators at several well–known pharmaceutical companies. Additionally, new applications for these products are being tested by Hepregen, its pharmaceutical company customers, and its academic and business partners. Hepregen was founded and initially capitalized by Battelle Ventures and Innovation Valley Partners with technology licensed from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The technology was developed by Professor Sangeeta Bhatia, a world renowned expert and leader in liver bioengineering for life science and therapeutic applications, and her associate, Dr. Salman Khetani.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward–Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward–looking statements. Such forward–looking statements reflect Hepregen's and SOLVO's expectations about future operating results, performance and opportunities that involve substantial risk and uncertainties. These statements include but are not limited to statements regarding the performance and results of the company's HepatoPac® and other kits. When used herein, the words “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “upcoming,” “plan,” “target,” “intend” and “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to Hepregen Corporation, SOLVO Biotechnology or the management of either company are intended to identify such forward–looking statements. These forward–looking statements are based on information currently available to Hepregen and SOLVO, and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the companys' actual results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward–looking statements.
Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2015/6/22/11G045462/Images/technology–liver–to–micropatterned–1366555151267.jpg