Cellumen Finds Increased Predictivity for Human DILI Through Rat Hepatocyte Panel

Less Expensive, More Reliable Rodent Panel Offers Both Predictivity and
Mechanistic Profiles
PITTSBURGH--(Business Wire)--
Cellumen, Inc., a discovery and early safety assessment company, today announced
that its in vitro Rat Hepatocyte Early Safety Assessment Panel provides
increased predictivity for human drug induced liver injury (DILI) equivalent to
that of a recently published panel comprised of human hepatocytes. The
implications of this study have a significant impact on cost and throughput for
in vitro human DILI predictive solutions.

As a result of these findings, less expensive, more reliable cells from a rat
coupled with a 384-well assay format can result in reliable classification and
risk-ranking of compounds for purposes of hit-to-lead prioritization and
chemical class selection. In addition, the Cellumen in vitro rodent safety
assessment panel provides robust dose- and time-dependent mechanistic profiles
for each compound, allowing for de-risking compounds for specific mechanisms of
toxicity.

The internal study, completed by Cellumen, focused on a set of 178 compounds
spanning diverse chemical classes with published human DILI scores. Cellumen
applied its proprietary Rat Hepatocyte Early Safety Assessment Panel consisting
of freshly harvested hepatocytes, eight cellular features, three time points,
and a 10 point dose response. The panel was analyzed on a high-content imaging
platform and a classifier constructed to predict human DILI scores. Using this
optimized Rodent Hepatocyte Panel, Cellumen achieved 100 percent specificity
with nearly 50 percent sensitivity.

"We were excited by these findings, since we did not expect the concordance of
human-to-human and rat-to-human DILI predictivity to be so strong," says Don
Taylor, Vice President of Corporate Development for Cellumen. "However, since
Cellumen measured molecular mechanisms common to both species, these results may
not be as surprising as initially thought."

The results indicate that its in vitro Rat Hepatocyte Early Safety Assessment
Panel can offer Cellumen customers higher throughput and lower cost solutions
for human DILI predictivity than other options currently available.

About Cellumen

Cellumen is the leading early safety assessment innovator providing the most
accurate predictions of drug efficacy and safety, thus reducing failure rates
and cutting development costs. Cellumen`s Cellular Systems Biology solutions are
driving early safety assessment by addressing the full complexity of disease and
safety. Leading global organizations, including top pharmaceutical companies,
the EPA, FDA, and NIH, partner with Cellumen. Cellumen is a partner company of
Safeguard Scientifics. Other investors include Novitas Capital, the Pittsburgh
Life Sciences Greenhouse and Innovation Works. For more information about
Cellumen, please visit www.cellumen.com.

For Cellumen
Gregory FCA
Theresa Murray, 610-642-8253 x164
Theresa@GregoryFCA.com

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