ACEA Biosciences and Ncardia Partner to Provide Solutions for Cardiac Drug Discovery and Cardiac Safety Assessment

Ncardia is an emerging drug discovery and development stem cell technology company whose goal is to be the trusted global leader in the hiPSC drug discovery and development field and the partner of choice for scientists operating in cardiovascular and neural safety and efficacy projects. Using its cell products, Ncardia develops and commercializes electrophysiology-, biochemistry-, and contraction-based assay services for predictive safety pharmacology, toxicology testing, and drug efficacy screening. In addition, the company has built up a strong portfolio of patents covering the use of stem cell models for these applications. Ncardia believes that stem cell technology fast-tracks the delivery of better medicines to patients by improving the drug discovery process.

ACEA is the developer of seven different xCELLigence^® RTCA instruments, more than 2,000 of which have been installed in academic, industry, and government laboratories globally. The xCELLigence^® RTCA CardioECR model is the only instrument in the world that combines high frequency (every 1 millisecond) measurement of cell-induced electrical impedance with multielectrode array technology to simultaneously assess cardiomyocyte contractility, viability, and electrophysiology in a microtiter plate format. Moreover, the CardioECR’s electrical pacing feature enables the functional maturation of cardiomyocytes, improving the efficacy and predictivity of inotropic compound screening.

ACEA and Ncardia will officially launch their partnership with a limited-time promotion that includes the xCELLigence CardioECR instrument packaged with Ncardia Pluricyte^® or Cor.4U^® Cardiomyocytes at a discounted price. Yama Abassi, VP of Global Business Development at ACEA, stated, “We are happy to establish this relationship with Ncardia to provide innovative solutions to the global market. Moving forward, some of our offerings will include pre-plated cells so that existing customers can use their time more efficiently.” Stefan Braam, CEO of Ncardia, mentioned that “working with ACEA, and particularly the xCELLigence^® CardioECR instrument, will ensure that our customers will obtain optimum value from our Pluricyte^® and Cor.4U^® Cardiomyocytes and be able to maximally capitalize on Ncardia’s predictive and translational in vitrosolutions for drug safety and efficacy testing.”

Starting in early 2018 ACEA and Ncardia will offer joint demonstrations and workshops focused on optimizing cardiomyocyte research by coupling the CardioECR instrument with Pluricyte^® and Cor.4U^® cells. Jointly hosted user meetings, aimed at promoting scientific exchange and collaboration amongst scientists working at the forefront of cardiac safety assessment and cardiovascular disease modelling, are also slated for the new year.

About Ncardia

Ncardia develops, produces and commercializes highly predictive human cellular assay systems for safety and efficacy testing. The product portfolio encompasses a broad panel of hiPSC derived cryopreserved cardiomyocytes and neurons. In addition, the company delivers the CardioPlate^TM product line of quality controlled ready to use assay plates. Using its cell products, Ncardia develops and provides its customers with a broad portfolio of cardiovascular services from safety pharmacology and disease modelling to cardiovascular drug efficacy screening. Ncardia is based in Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, and the USA. The company is privately held and was established in September 2017 following the merger of Pluriomics and Axiogenesis, two well-known pioneers in the field of stem cell derived cells for safety and toxicology assessment.

For more information please visit www.ncardia.com.

About ACEA Biosciences, Inc.

Founded in 2002, ACEA Biosciences is a pioneer in the development and commercialization of high performance, cutting edge cell analysis platforms for life science research. ACEA’s xCELLigence^® impedance-based, label-free, real-time cell analysis instruments and NovoCyte^® flow cytometer are used in pre-clinical drug discovery and development, toxicology, safety pharmacology, and basic academic research. More than 2,000 instruments have been placed globally, leading to >1,400 peer reviewed publications.

For more information please visit www.aceabio.com.