Drug Discovery & Development Platform
StemCells, Inc. can provide the tools and enabling technologies needed to address the entire lifecycle of drug discovery and development, from initial screen through in vitro characterization and in vivo validation of lead candidates using the actual human target cell.
Utilizing conventional technology, only one out of every 10,000 drug candidates entering the development process will be commercialized.1 On average, the process takes approximately 12 years from lead identification to market approval and costs nearly US$1 billion.2,3 According to the FDA, a 10% improvement in predicting failures before clinical trials could save $100 million in development costs per drug.4
The StemCells Approach to Drug Discovery and Development
Over nearly two decades of leadership in stem cell biology research and innovation, StemCells has developed the tools, technologies, core competencies and infrastructure needed to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners realize a faster, more reliable and more efficient process for identifying, characterizing and validating safe and effective lead candidates.
Modeled on the successful preclinical programs that have advanced our own therapeutic candidates into clinical trials, our integrated platform enables our partners to use the same human target cell of interest across the entire continuum from discovery to preclinical testing.
StemCells scientists have developed, stem-cell based assay formats for use in screening and toxicity assays in vitro, which can more rapidly and efficiently identify the most promising lead candidates, early in the discovery process. We have also produced corresponding immuno-deficient rodent models for preclinical evaluation in vivo, enabling direct insight into the toxicology and efficacy of a drug candidate on the human target cell in the actual disease setting.
Under sponsored research agreements, StemCells can serve as a “one-stop shop,” providing all the tools and technologies to identify and advance drug candidates from initial library screening through increasing levels of characterization to preclinical validation. Partners seeking a less comprehensive solution may select individual components from our “a la carte” platform menu:
Proprietary Cells & Cell Lines
At the core of our platform is a range of proprietary cells and cell lines that either directly represent, or can be differentiated to represent, the actual human target cell. Learn more…
Cell Culture Products
Our cell culture products facilitate the reproducible production and differentiation of cells and cell lines for use in cell-based assays. Learn more…
Antibody Reagents
Our library of proprietary antibody reagents have been extensively used for the in vitro and in vivo characterization of human stem cell populations and their differentiated progeny. Learn more…
Cell-based Assay Formats
Offering differing levels of sophistication and throughput, our in vitro and in vivo cell-based assay formats enable screening for cell proliferation, self-renewal, differentiation and function. Learn more…
- GAO Report to Congressional Requestors, New Drug Development: Science, Business, Regulatory, and Intellectual Property Issues Cited as Hampering Drug Development Efforts, November 2006
- Gregory A Petsko, When failure should be the option, BMC Biology, May 2010
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Stem Cells Science and Ethics
- US FDA, Innovation or Stagnation: Challenge and Opportunity on the Critical Path to New Medical Products, March 2004