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Absorption Systems Awarded Patent for CellPort Technologies
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Exton, PA -- Absorption Systems, a leader in testing drugs for ADMET (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion and Toxicity), today announced that the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued US patent number 7,795,019 covering its novel Breast Cancer Resistance Protein (BCRP) knockdown cell line within the company’s CellPort Technologies® brand. Absorption Systems’ proprietary cell lines allow pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to definitively predict clinical drug-drug interactions (DDIs) involving drug transporters.
CellPort Technologies is a suite of in vitro test systems designed to provide definitive data regarding interactions between drugs and specific transporter proteins. Specific transporter proteins, BCRP is one example, have been identified by regulatory agencies such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) as key mediators of unintended drug interactions*. In contrast to older assay systems in which a transporter is over-expressed in mammalian cells, which may cause difficulties in comparing potencies of different substrates and inhibitors in different systems, Absorption Systems took the opposite approach to create its new models. Starting with the Caco-2 human epithelial cell line, scientists used RNA interference to knock down the expression of one efflux transporter at a time, in such a way that each knockdown phenotype is extremely stable. By using the knockdown cell lines in parallel with control cells, it becomes very clear, by process of elimination, if a drug interacts with a specific drug transporter.
“This patent further confirms the uniqueness of the approach that Absorption Systems has taken,” said President and CEO Patrick M. Dentinger. “We believe that using CellPort Technologies gives pharmaceutical and biotech companies a significant advantage by providing, in a very efficient and definitive manner, the information required by the FDA. No other company is offering technology or service today that provides such conclusive results.”
The patent, titled, “Stable Cell Lines and Methods for Evaluating Gastrointestinal Absorption of Chemicals," is assigned to Absorption Systems.
To learn more about CellPort Technologies and to view a video on the patented knockdown cell lines, visit www.absorption.com/cellport.
*FDA draft guidance on drug interaction studies is available at http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Guidances/UCM072101.pdf.
*EMA draft guideline on the investigation of drug interactions is available at http://www.ema.europa.eu/docs/en_GB/document_library/Scientific_guideline/2010/05/WC500090112.pdf.
*The International Transporter Consortium (ITC) white paper regarding transporters and drug development is available at http://www.nature.com/nrd/journal/v9/n3/full/nrd3028.html.
About Absorption Systems
Absorption Systems, founded in 1996, assists pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies in identifying and overcoming ADMET (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion and Toxicity) barriers in the development of drugs, biologics and medical devices. The company's mission is to continually develop innovative research tools that can be used to accurately predict human outcomes or to explain unanticipated human outcomes when they occur. The CellPort Technologies® platform, a suite of human cell-based tests systems for drug transporter characterization, exemplifies Absorption Systems' commitment to innovation and is soon to be an industry assay standard for in vitro drug interaction assessment. Absorption Systems has facilities near Philadelphia, PA, and in San Diego, CA, and serves customers throughout the world. For information on the company's comprehensive contract services and applied research programs, please visit http://www.absorption.com.
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