VistaGen (OTCQB: VSTA) Secures Key US Patent
Covering Stem Cell Technology Methods for Liver Toxicity
OTCQB: VSTA has secured a new patent covering proprietary methods used to measure and type the toxic effects produced by drug compounds in liver stem cells.
Test methods included in this new patent, 11445733or <733>, titled “Toxicity Typing Using Liver Stem Cells,” covers all mammalian liver stem cells — rat and mouse cells, for example, in addition to human cells. Liver stem cells used in drug testing can be derived from in vivo tissue or produced from embryonic stem cells (ES) or induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). The Bottom Line: This patent covers the monitoring of changes in gene expression as an assay for predicting drug toxicities. It is well known that drugs activate and suppress specific genes, and that the changes in gene expression reflect the mechanism of drug toxicities. VSTA’s new patent also covers techniques used to develop a database of gene expression profiles of drugs that have the same type of liver toxicity.
