Massachusetts stem cell biotechnology company Asymmetrex’s, innovative AlphaSTEM Test™ for specific counting of adult tissue stem cells is rapidly gaining greater visibility and interest. Most recently, as a special feature in the November new edition of the Scientist.com’s newsletter, INNOV8, the technology’s applications in drug development are the focus.
In the November issue of the Scientist.com’s monthly newsletter, Asymmetrex (Boston, MA) is featured with the global biotechnology marketplace’s designation as a Supplier Insider™. The November issue is Scientist.com’s first edition of a new look for its newsletter, with the new name INNOV8. The makeover of the newsletter follows on the heels of the recent launch of the company’s Innovation Hub™. Asymmetrex is one of the innovative tools suppliers featured in this exclusive technology market designed to introduce cutting-edge technologies to a selective group of pharmaceutical companies.
Asymmetrex Director, James L. Sherley, M.D., Ph.D., shares, “Selection by Scientist.com to be listed with the elite group of suppliers of new technologies to selective Pharma companies is a thrilling opportunity for Asymmetrex.” Sherley hopes that the two-minute promotional video included for the newsletter feature will go a long way to getting Pharma companies to understand why specific stem cell counting will enable an incredible extension of the horizons of the drug development industry.
Sherley emphasizes that, “Stem cell biomedicine also includes drug development. The problem is that previously Pharma and Biopharma companies have not had a tool that allowed them to conveniently and routinely evaluate drug candidates’ effects on adult tissue stem cells.” Now, Asymmetrex’s AlphaSTEM Test™ service will allow them to identify drug candidates that are stem cell-activating or stem cell-toxic for stem cells from any tissue in the human body.
Stem cell-activating drugs could improve stem cell transplantation treatments or accelerate wound healing. However, the greater impact for the drug development industry is predicted to be due to the new ability to detect stem cell-toxic drugs earlier in less expensive phases of drug development. By current estimates, each year, 4 to 5 billion dollars are spent by U.S. Pharma companies on drug candidates that fail in expensive animal studies or later in even more expensive phase II and phase III clinical trials because they cause chronic organ failure. A major cause of chronic organ failure is stem cell toxicity.
Twenty to 30 percent of drugs fail in phase II and phase III trials because of intolerable toxicity. About half of these safety failures are due to chronic organ failure, which could be detected much earlier with the AlphaSTEM Test™. So, Asymmetrex projects that it can save many of the Pharma companies in the Scientist.com’s Innovation Hub hundreds of millions of dollars by earlier elimination of stem cell-toxic drugs from their pipelines. Sherley is confident that with any new innovation, marketing is the key to early adoption. Asymmetrex is ready for the lines for its AlphaSTEM Test™ service to begin forming soon with the special Pharma members of the Scientist.com’s exclusive Innovation Hub.
Asymmetrex, LLC is a Massachusetts life sciences company with a focus on developing technologies to advance stem cell medicine. Asymmetrex’s founder and director, James L. Sherley, M.D., Ph.D. is an internationally recognized expert on the unique properties of adult tissue stem cells. The company’s patent portfolio contains biotechnologies that solve the two main technical problems – production and quantification – that have stood in the way of successful commercialization of human adult tissue stem cells for regenerative medicine and drug development. In addition, the portfolio includes novel technologies for isolating cancer stem cells and producing induced pluripotent stem cells for disease research purposes. Asymmetrex markets the first technology for determination of the dose and quality of tissue stem cell preparations (the “AlphaSTEM Test™”) for use in stem cell transplantation therapies and pre-clinical drug evaluations.
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