The Francis Crick Institute has signed an agreement giving Axol Bioscience exclusive rights to a methodology to generate human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) derived cells used in drug screening and cardiotoxicity assays.

The technology developed by the Crick is used to generate near-homogeneous populations of human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) derived left ventricular cardiomyocytes (LVCMs) with improved structural, functional and metabolic maturity. The initial discovery was protected, funded and further developed towards commercial application in-house at the Crick. This work has just been published in Cell Reports Methods and the intellectual property has been licensed to Axol Bioscience for both the production and supply of LVCMs, as well as the provision of screening services. This license agreement clears the way for Axol Bioscience to operate freely within this market, characterised by a complex intellectual property landscape.