NEW COLLABORATION AIMS TO DEVELOP DISEASE-SPECIFIC EXPERIMENTAL MODELS FOR TRANSLATIONAL MEDICAL RESEARCH
Santa Clara, CA (8th May 2014) – Crown Bioscience, Inc., a leading global drug discovery and development service company with one of its R&D centers in Taicang, Jiangsu, China, has announced that an agreement has been reached with the National Resource Center for Mutant Mice (NRCMM), in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. The strategic partnership will focus on developing new experimental cancer models to advance translational medical research and the treatment of cancers.
The immediate focus of the research collaboration will be to build new experimental models for cancer research leveraging the proprietary technologies of both companies. The collaboration is expected to significantly expand the research capabilities of both organizations in translational oncology and will thus benefit the global research community fighting cancers.
Crown Bioscience is the premier service provider of translational oncology and metabolic diseases platforms providing focused disease models. It has one of the largest and most advanced translational oncology platforms featuring fully annotated collections of proprietary patient derived xenograft (PDX) models (>1000). NRCMM is a leading research organization specialized in genetically engineered mutant mouse (GEMM), with vast resources, including a large collection of GEMMs, many of which mimic human cancers. Both parties have complimentary expertise and experience in Oncology and GEMMs, and therefore the established joint effort will have great synergy in creating new translational oncology platforms based on GEMMs.
The collaboration will offer significantly expanded new mouse cancer and leukemia models based on GEMM as well as new human xenografts, in addition to the current PDX and CDX platforms (Cell line Derived Xenograft) at Crown and the current GEMMs at NRCMM. In particular, novel mouse strains with various humanizations could be particularly powerful tools for immune-oncology research and immunotherapy drug evaluations.
After the signing of the agreement, Dr. Jean-Pierre Wery, Crown’s President, commented: “Crown plays a leading role in providing cutting-edge translational platforms and cost effective drug development solutions for almost all top pharmaceutical companies worldwide. Crown is very happy to partner with NRCMM, the leading research institute for genetically engineered animals in China. This partnership will offer world-class translational oncology services, and ultimately benefit cancer patients around the world. This collaboration will further strengthen Crown’s leading position as the oncology translational medicine partner for drug discovery organizations worldwide”.
Dr. Gao, Director of NRCMM, also commented: “As the largest government-funded research institute focusing on genetically engineered mice in China, NRCMM is an important member of the global community of GEMM research. Working together with a world leading translational oncology service provider, such as Crown, the combined expertise of Crown in oncology and our GEMM can certainly offer great GEMM-based oncology platforms to our partners in China and around the world. We are certainly excited about this opportunity.”
*ENDS*
For further press information please contact: David Bertram – The Scott Partnership, 1 Whiteside, Station Road, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, CW4 8AA, United Kingdom. Tel: + 44 1477 539 539 Fax: +44 1477 539 540 E-mail: crown@scottpr.com
About Crown Bioscience Inc.
Founded in 2006, Crown Bioscience is a premier drug discovery company providing cutting-edge translational platforms and cost effective drug discovery solutions for its biotech and pharmaceutical partners in dedicated therapeutic areas: Oncology and Metabolic Disease. Our proprietary HuPrime®, HuKemia®, HuBase®, HuTrial™, HuSignature™, HuBank™, HuTissue™, and HuMark® platforms enable unique translational strategies to deliver superior drug candidates. Headquartered in Santa Clara California, Crown Bioscience has global operations in China (Beijing and Jiangsu Taicang), the USA (NC), UK (Nottingham), and also with business offices in the Santa Clara, Boston, Princeton, RTP, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Milan and Shanghai. For more information, please visit www.crownbio.com.
About NRCMM
Model Animal Research Center of Nanjing University is located in the High-Tech Development Zone of Nanjing covering an area of about 66,700 square meters. It was established in 2002 as a key project within the framework of the Tenth Five-year Plan of China for Scientific Breakthrough, with an initial investment of 50 million yuan. The center is equipped with a state-of-art animal facility, also functioning as the National Resource Center for Mutant Mice. The center also houses the Ministry of Education (MOE) Key Laboratory of Model Animal for Disease Study. Approved and initiated in 2008, the key laboratory passed its start-up inspection by MOE in May of the ensuing year, following the completion of the first-phase construction in research laboratories, administration offices, a power center and a mouse facility that can accommodate more than 30,000 SPF-level mouse cages. As a research base also capable of mutant mice generation and analysis, the center also boasts a transgenic core and a phenotypic core. The former operates with four sets of micro-injection systems and a high-end stem cell manipulation module; the latter is equipped with a laser scanning confocal microscope, a multi-functional animal monitoring system, a high resolution ultrasound animal imaging system, an in vivo optical imaging system, and a full set of conventional molecular biology equipment. The total value of equipment occupying these two cores is estimated to be worth more than 40 million yuan.
