Replies to post #128 on Exten Industries (fka BB: EXTI)

[Patricia_1]

3/26/04 update to Multicell/Xenotech Conferences in 2004

Thanks to seatech3 at the EXTI RB thread

Conferences/Journals this year (12 and counting)

1. Jan 13, 2004 - Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
http://intl-jpet.aspetjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/jpet.103.061713v1

Induction of drug metabolizing enzymes and MDR1 using a novel hepatocyte cell line
Jessica B Mills 1, Kelly Rose 1, Nalini Sadagopan 1, Jasminder Sahi 1, Sonia M. F. de Morais 1*

Pfizer Global Research and Development

"Induction of drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters can cause drug-drug interactions and loss of efficacy. In vitro induction studies traditionally use primary hepatocyte cultures and enzyme activity with selected marker compounds. We investigated the use of a novel human hepatocyte clone, the Fa2N-4 cell line, as an alternative reagent, which is readily available and provides a consistent, reproducible system. We used the Invader® assay to monitor gene expression in these cells. This assay is a robust, yet simple, high-throughput system for quantification of mRNA transcripts. CYP1A2, CYP3A4, CYP2C9, UGT1A, and MDR1 transcripts were quantified from total RNA extracts from Fa2N-4 cells treated with a panel of known inducers and compared with vehicle controls. In addition, we used enzyme activity assays to monitor the induction of CYP1A2, CYP2C9, and CYP3A4. The Fa2N-4 cells responded in a similar manner as primary human hepatocytes. Treatment with 10 µM rifampin resulted in increases in CYP3A4 mRNA (17-fold) and activity (6-beta-hydroxytestoterone formation, 9-fold); and in CYP2C9 mRNA (4-fold) and activity (4'-hydroxydiclofenac formation, 2-fold). Treatment with 50 µM beta-naphthoflavone resulted in increases in CYP1A2 mRNA (15-fold) and activity (7-ethoxyresorufin O-dealkylation, 27-fold). UGT1A mRNA was induced by beta-naphthoflavone (2-fold), and MDR1 (P-glycoprotein) mRNA was induced by rifampin (3-fold). These preliminary data using a few prototypical inducers show that Fa2N-4 cells can be a reliable surrogate for primary human hepatocytes, and, when used in conjunction with the Invader® technology, could provide a reliable assay for assessment of induction of drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters."

2. Feb 11, 2004 - Annual Forum on ADME/Tox
http://www.cbinet.com/events/HB405/day_one.html

2:15 Induction of Major Cytochrome P450 Enzymes in Immortalized Human Hepatocytes
Primary cultures of human hepatocytes are the most suitable test system to evaluate induction of drug metabolizing enzymes by New Chemical Entities (NCEs). The supply of human livers available for support of drug development though is increasingly limited and their response to NCE’s is highly variable due to numerous environmental and genetic factors. Recently, SV40 T Ag-immortalized hepatocytes, Fa2N-4, demonstrated cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzyme’s activity and inducibility, among other characteristics of differentiated liver functions. Since these cells can be cryopreserved and are readily available, they constitute a test system alternative to primary cultures of hepatocytes. This session discusses the data from two independent laboratories who have characterized the activity of multiple CYP in response to prototypical enzyme inducers, which regulate gene expression through distinctive nuclear receptor pathways.
• Cultured with a uniquely formulated media, these cells grow and maintain their functions in 96-well plates
• Cell culture and LC/MS/MS methods were developed to ascertain inductive potential of NCEs with Fa2N-4 cells

Jessica B. Mills, Ph.D., Associate Scientist, Pfizer Inc
Andrew Parkinson, Ph.D., President and CEO, XenoTech LLC

XenoTech will also sponsor an exhibit at this meeting.

3. IBC's Preclinical Development Forum
Feb 23 - 25, 2004
Cambridge, MA

XenoTech will sponsor an exhibit at this conference.

4. ISE's 4th International Conference on Early Toxicity Screening
Feb 23 - 24, 2004
San Diego, CA

Presentation by Dr. Andrew Parkinson, XenoTech CEO
Session 2
"Immortalized Hepatocytes: A New In Vitro Approach to Early Induction and Hepatotoxicity Screening

XenoTech will also sponsor an exhibit at this conference

5. ECPM Course: Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology
March 8 - 10, 2004
Basel, Switzerland
Andrew Parkinson, Ph.D. will lecture on the topic of Drug Metabolism in Health and Disease.

6. Wednesday, March 24, 2004 Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting
http://www.toxicology.org/memberservices/meetings/am2004/

1:30 - 4:30 p.m. - THE USE OF IMMORTALIZED HEPATOCYTES IN METABOLISM AND INDUCTION STUDIES
Kevin C. Lyon, XenoTech

7. Cell-Based Assays For HTS
May 17-18, 2004, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Break-Through Technologies

9:55-10:10 Immortalized Hepatocytes: A New In Vitro Approach to Early Compound Screening
Andrew Parkinson, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, XenoTech, LLC
A new human hepatocyte cell line has the potential to solve the problem of supply and inter-individual variability that restrict the use of human hepatocytes for candidate comparisons in preclinical metabolism, toxicity, and induction studies. Its unlimited supply assures long-term reproducibility and scheduling convenience in utilizing this breakthrough technology.

8. May 19(Wed) - 21(Fri), 2004 for 3 days at Tokyo Big Sight, Japan - The 3rd INTERNATIONAL BIO EXPO JAPAN 2004, together with the INTERPHEX JAPAN
INTERNATIONAL BIO EXPO JAPAN expands again, welcome some 450 exhibitors, presenting their latest products, technologies and services.
Last year, 13,591 professionals visited INTERNATIONAL BIO EXPO JAPAN.
It is expected that some 15,000 professionals attend from Japan and all over the world.
List of exhibitors includes: XENOTECH LLC

9. June 15, 2004 - 7th International Conference on Drug-Drug Interactions
https://www.isciencex.com/DDI-2004%20program%20FINAL.htm

10:30 AM – 11:15 AM
Immortalized and Fresh Human Hepatocytes: Use and Performance in Metabolism, Induction and Toxicity Screening (Andrew Parkinson, XenoTech, Lenexa, KS) Human hepatocytes play several key roles in preclinical drug development, including assessment of enzyme induction, cellular toxicity, drug metabolism and species comparisons. This presentation compares fresh and cryopreserved human hepatocytes to a new human hepatocyte cell line that has the potential to solve the problem of supply and variability that restrict the use of human hepatocytes for enzyme induction and other in vitro screening.

11:15 AM – 12:00 PM

Predicting Clinical DDI Arising from CYP3A4 Induction Using In Vitro Data: Studies with the Fa2N-4 Immortalized Hepatocyte Line (Sharon L. Ripp, Pfizer Global Research & Development; Groton, CT) The Fa2N-4 human hepatocyte line, when treated with prototypical inducers, shows a robust induction of CYP3A4 mRNA and enzymatic activity. We are examining ways to use this in vitro induction data to predict clinical DDI due to CYP3A4. One possibility is to combine potency and efficacy data from Fa2N-4 cells with efficacious plasma concentrations to assess in vivo induction potential. Studies assessing the validity of this approach using prototypical inducers will be discussed.

10. 7th International ISSX Meeting
August 29 - September 2, 2004
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Go to ISSX

11. The Seventh Annual International Conference on Drug Metabolism/Applied Pharmacokinetics
Devil’s Head Lodge, Merrimac, WI
September 13-17, 2004
Wednesday, September 15
9:30 Wine and Cheese Reception
Sponsored by Xenotech LLC
Lenexa, KS

12. AAPS (November 7 - 11, 2004)
http://www.aapspharmaceutica.com/meetings/annualmeet/am04/
XenoTech - booth 202 (at the main entrance)


http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EXTI&read=25667

[Patricia_1]

Multicell Technologies (EXTI) overview revised 3/24/04

Once again a very big thank you to seatech3 on the EXTI thread at RB

Exten Announces Merger with MultiCell Subsidiary
New company name will be MultiCell Technologies, Inc.
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/811779/000108638004000013/ext8k032304exh991.htm

The Multicell Technologies, Inc. business is built around a revolutionary liver cell lines they have developed and patented. These offer many significant advantages, including they are:

1 - human (as opposed to porcine) liver cells that replicate and function without stimulating an immune response in the host, thereby providing a renewable source of cells to treat liver failure without immune-system side effects.
2 - nontumorigenic (non-cancerous, as opposed to other's cancerous human cell lines)
3 - immortalized (The ability of a genetically engineered cell line to reproduce indefinitely)
4 - fully-functional (as discovered by Pfizer & now, Roche, & as opposed to others, which aren't)
5 - readily available (as opposed to porcine, rat or human liver "slices")
6 - cost-effective (as opposed to porcine, rat or human liver "slices")

Here's an overview of what the liver does:
http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EXTI&read=12280

See what the industry is saying about EXTI's cell lines:
http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EXTI&read=17331
http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EXTI&read=21368

These cell lines are enabling EXTI to enter (and possibly dominate) 4 major markets - I'm listing these in the order I think they will be able to enter the respective markets, starting with the market they are already in:

1 - the $3.7 billion Hepatocyte Test Kit market through their MultiCell subsidiary. Through their world wide marketing and distribution agreement with XenoTech has these test kits on the market today, with their product launched at the ISSX Meeting beginning Oct 12, 2003 and is currently being marketed worldwide. Many expect this cell line to become the gold standard for this market.

These cell lines have been validated for this specific purpose by Pfizer - http://home.comcast.net/~dcmack2/ISSXPoster.pdf - who signed a 15 year non-exclusive license for EXTI's cell lines after the validation. This validation was confirmed and extended by Hoffman-LaRoche - http://home.comcast.net/~dcmack2/Roche.html - as well as by XenoTech http://homepage.mac.com/alandail/XenoTech2003.pdf

XenoTech saw Pfizer's presentation and from that sought out EXTI to become their manufacturer. That focus enabled us to quickly identify it as a potential breakthrough, which our evaluations verified.

Thus XenoTech sought out EXTI and did their own independent testing before signing to be their marketing partner on these cell lines for hepatocyte test kits. The product is now being marketed world wide, starting with 3 important conferences.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20031010005....
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20031030005....

Pfizer and XenoTech are also copresenting EXTI's technology on 2-11-04 here:

http://www.cbinet.com/events/HB405/day_one.html

and again here on 6-15-04:
http://www.isciencex.com/DDI-2004%20program%20FINAL.htm

and XenoTech is one of the exhibitors as well:

http://www.cbinet.com/events/HB405/Sponsors/sponsors.html

2 - the $43 billion Therapeutic Protein Production market through their MultiCell subsidiary. Being fully functional liver cells, they can generate therapeutic proteins with high yield and low cost vs. current methods and even can generate supplies where none exist today. Here are a couple of links with more on Therapeutic Proteins

http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EXTI&read=11379
http://www.multicelltechnologies.com/30/

and here's another potential application:
http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EXTI&read=12227

3 - the $2 billion bioartificial liver market through their Xenogenics subsidiary. Think of it as dialysis for the liver. Again, these fully functional immortalized liver cell lines give EXTI a major advantage in this market. Also, the design of the device is a major advantage as well. The Sybiol is designed with specially patented chambers which allow the cells to circulate for maximum efficiency and even longer utility, reducing costs to hospitals vs. the competition.


http://exten.com/exten2/sybiol.htm
http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EXTI&read=11606
http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EXTI&read=12730
http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EXTI&read=12266

4 - the $78 billion Liver Stem Cell Transplantation market. The holy grail of liver research - to be able to regenerate damaged liver tissue.

EXTI has also been expanding their independent board. Here is news of the latest new board member

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/031124/245268_1.html

here's what he had to say

Dr. Maggio commented, "Exten Industries' cell-based toxicological and drug screening technologies address certain critical needs among pharmaceutical and biotech companies to make more accurate assessments of the likely success of new drug candidates before they are actually placed into clinical trials. This technology promises to increase the efficiency of drug discovery and save many millions of dollars by reducing the ultimate failure rate in clinical trials, benefiting both drug companies and consumers alike."

Here's his company:

http://www.cengent.com/corporate_info.html

Some more links to look at

here's a good post from Scott Brassfield of EXTI:
http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EXTI&read=5678

Here's the unofficial EXTI investor site:
http://exti.info/

Here's the official EXTI web site:
http://exten.com/

And here's another site with a great collection of EXTI information:
http://www.hannibalsweb.com/cgi-bin/hannibalsweb/ikonboard.cgi?s=61740b76cd8a5f990fe222ce30fd4d10;ac....


http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EXTI&read=25672