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Overview & profile

The business objective of Axiogenesis lies in the area of pre-clinical (red) biotechnology, specifically in the production of stem cell-based assays that enable drug development. These innovative and proprietary assays accelerate and improve drug candidate selection, lower costs and thus increase overall drug development efficiency. At present the main focus is heart muscle disease (cardiomyopathy).

Since early 2008, the first products of Axiogenesis have been actively marketed and are already generating significant turnovers.

This range of products has been further developed during the last months employing groundbreaking human induced Pluripotent Stem cell (iPS) technology. Through in-house development of human iPS technology, the next product generation of murine embryonic stem cells will be complemented with human stem cell-derived tissues.

With this technology it is possible to reverse-differentiate (or de-differentiate) adult human cells (e.g., skin or blood cells) to an artificial embryonic state. Using proprietary technology, Axiogenesis then forward-differentiates these into pure organ specific cells and defined tissues. Proof of concept of this two-step method was established in-house during November 2008. The first human, organ-specific iPS cells will be available for sale by the end of 2011.

A range of tissue models (including heart, liver and nerve) will be produced through the proliferation and differentiation of genetically modified stem cells. These are used to test efficacy and potential adverse side effects of drug candidates.

Increased drug development efficiency, with the use of Axiogenesis technology, is achieved through:

  • Earlier selections against drug candidates that will have high adverse side affects or do not have a therapeutic effect.
  • Early selection and fast tracking of drug candidates with high efficacy and low side effects.
  • Partial substitution of costly animal studies.
  • Reduction of the time taken for preclinical studies.
  • Extension of marketing exclusivity gained through a shorter drug development cycle, resulting in a longer time from market authorization until patent protection is lost.

Furthermore the system lends itself to product line extension through rapid testing of side effect profiles and improvements in efficacy of modified compounds or through the identification of novel indications of existing active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).