Acea Biosciences, Cellular Dynamics, Roche deal

The companies combined CDI's iCell Cardiomyocytes with ACEA's and Roche's xCELLigence RTCA System to develop a tool to evaluate the potential cardiotoxic effects of new and previously marketed cardiac compounds. The tool is in beta testing at pharmaceutical companies and institutions and is expected to launch soon. Financial terms of the deal are not disclosed. Roche and CDI have been collaborating on the validation of CDI's pluripotent stem cell technology under a 2008 deal, which was expanded in 2009 to include the assessment of CDI's cardiomyocytes as a cardiovascular safety pharmacology and toxicology tool. ...