March 26, 2020
Durham, N.C., USA March 23rd, 2020 — ScitoVation, a solution leader recognized as industry experts in cell-based assays and computational methods announced today the launch of a partnership with BioPredic International, a contract services, research and life sciences tools provider based in France. The partnership centers around the Biopredic-owned HepaRG® immortal liver cell line. ScitoVation will serve as a center of service excellence in the Americas for HepaRG® as BioPredic’s preferred CRO partner in the Americas providing contract services, product development and technical support to the market. Together the two companies will launch a suite of full service HepaRG® assays related to hepatotoxicity, mitochondrial toxicity, drug metabolism and disease modeling (i.e., steatosis, cholestasis, fibrosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, etc.). This partnership intends to offer novel and physiologically more relevant three-dimensional models along with traditional two-dimensional HepaRG® in vitro models. Thus, HepaRG® users will have access to a wider range of services. Also, under this partnership, ScitoVation will develop novel methods and computational models to obtain equivalent human dose exposure from in vitro experiments involving HepaRG® cells.
“We are very excited to be partnering with BioPredic! Personally, and professionally I have long and successful history working directly with the BioPredic team. This familiarity will be extremely valuable in accomplishing our common goals for this partnership and beyond. Establishing gold-standards and best practices for HepaRG® specific assays with accepted QC baselines are key components of this partnership.”, said Shiloh J. Barfield, VP at ScitoVation.
“The collaboration with BioPredic will enable us to build services using an immortal liver cell line that is well known by our clients and has been used in hundreds of studies by reputed organizations. Additionally, clients in the Americas will benefit through this partnership in getting HepaRG® cells that have gone through rigorous quality control procedures” said Jean Orelien, CEO of ScitoVation.
“At BioPredic we are excited to have Scitovation as a preferred strategic partner in the Americas. Scitovation has gathered over the years both in vitro and in silico expertise; that combination is rare and gives us a great opportunity to offer added values to users of HepaRG® cells. We share a common aim with ScitoVation to build a set of services with i) data generation using the most relevant protocols including the readouts in imaging and next-generation sequencing and ii) modelling with cutting-edge proprietary software and algorithms mastered at Scitovation” said Christophe Chesne, CEO of BioPredic International.
About ScitoVation
ScitoVation helps clients assess compound safety using innovative science and next-generation technology. The company is recognized as industry experts in the development and use of New Approach Methods (NAMs) who have pioneered organotypic cell-based assays, transcriptomic approaches and computational methods to provide leading-edge solutions.
About BioPredic International
Biopredic International is headquartered in France with branches in America and India, and distributors worldwide. It operates under the parent company WePredic which includes BioPredic, Eurosafe, Starlight and Biopredic Advancells. The company is known for its range of solutions in the liver, skin, kidney and blood domain. The HepaRG® cells and companion reagents are one of the popular product lines at Biopredic. More than 600 publications refer to those cells and the number of applications that can be addressed with them is still growing. Through the contribution of worldwide partners, the pipeline of new services and protocols relying on the HepaRG® continues to grow.