PRESS RELEASE
June 16, 2016
Transgenex
Nanobiotech Inc. Teams with Funakoshi Co. LTD for Distribution of their FiSSTM-based
Tumoroid Culture Products in Japan.
Transgenex Nanobiotech Inc. (TGN) has partnered with Funakoshi
Co. LTD to begin the sale and distribution of TGN’s Fiber-inspired Smart
Scaffold (FiSSTM)-based Tumoroid culture products in Japan, which
will include culture disc, plates for drug discovery, biomarker studies, drug
efficacy studies and stem cell isolation using cancer cell line cultures,
co-cultures, and biopsy cell cultures for research purposes.
The current unmet need in cancer research is for a simple,
affordable, tumor culture platform that can recapitulate patient cancers. TGN’s FiSSTM platform promotes
growth of cancer cell clusters called “tumoroids,” which closely mimic tumors
that grow in patients. TGN’s current products include various formats of their
FiSSTM-based tumoroid culture platform for use basic research, drug
discovery and clinical drug efficacy studies. A unique feature of tumoroid
platform is that it does not require TGF-beta unlike other 3D spheroid cultures
and the culturing is done in regular media, just like 2D cultures. FiSSTM gives researchers an
inexpensive tool to grow tumors in a cell culture dish for use in drug
screening and tumor characterization studies.
The 3D cell culture market,which includes tumor spheroids is
estimated to grow at an annualized growth rate of 28% and is expected to
capture nearly 35% of the global cell culture market netting in USD $11 billion
by 2025 (source: Root Analysis). In
keeping with this trend, the Japanese market for cell culture products is also rising.
In order to meet this growing demand, Funakoshi Co. LTD offers three millions products for research use
from worldwide suppliers to researchers all over Japan. Funakoshi News, a
newsletter published by the company, is issued twice per month and introduces
new products to Japanese customers. Thus, distribution through Funakoshi forms
the best strategy for TGN to reach cancer researchers in Japan.
The FiSSTM platform enables end users to quickly
achieve genuine tumor-like tumoroid culture with minimal optimization, minimal
investment and minimal change to existing workflows. “Japan is at the forefront
of 3D cell culture systems and our strategic partnership allows us to introduce
our product to the Japanese researchers with maximum efficiency,” said Dr.
Shyam Mohapatra, the Chairman of Transgenex. “This venture will open up doors for the sale
of the rest of our pipeline products like our FiSSTM-based 4D tumoroid
culture system, which allows the growth of in
vitro tumoroids in a perfused culture system, that is expected to tumoroids
resemble tumors by >90%.” TGN plans initially
rely on distributors for all its sales and TGN’s partnership with Funakoshi is
the first step in that direction.
About Transgenex
Nanobiotech Inc.
Transgenex Nanobiotech Inc. (TGN) is a privately held global
nanotech-pharma research and development company located in Tampa, FL, USA. The company is a spin-out from
University of South Florida (USF), with a strong patent position and has licensed these technologies
from the USF. TGN has the production equipment and the capability for
large-scale production of FiSSTM-based cell culture products. Additionally, TGN has obtained funding from
the Florida Institute of Commercialization to commercialize these technologies.
About Funakoshi Co
LTD.
Funakoshi Co., Ltd. is a leading
distributor of life science reagents and scientific equipment in Japan. The
corporate mission of Funakoshi Co. is to offer products based on leading-edge
technologies from around the world to Japanese researchers to support and
develop their research. Additional
information is available on the Company's website at www.funakoshi.co.jp
Contact for Funakoshi Co., Ltd.:Technical
Support Department (reagent@funakoshi.co.jp)
+81-3-5684-1620
Transgenex Contact:
Janni Mirosevich, PhD
Transgenex Nanobiotech Inc
Phone: 813-974-9649
Email: jmirosevich@transgenex.com
www.transgenex.com
