(TNS) — Biotech startup Imagine Pharma LLC is partnering with Cook MyoSite Inc. in O’Hara Township to isolate pancreatic cells for therapeutic uses, expanding Imagine Pharma’s product portfolio while enhancing treatment options for patients.
To date, Imagine Pharma has completed more than 32 islet cell isolation procedures for leading hospital systems in the U.S., including Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Ohio. Imagine Pharma’s partnership with Cook MyoSite will enable support for hospitals without their own in-house islet isolation facilities, which are typically available in only a handful of hospitals and labs.
Isolating and preparing islet cells from cadaver donors for research purposes has been an Imagine Pharma service line for some time. Clients have included Vanderbilt University, Stanford University, the University of Florida and Mt. Sinai Icahn School of Medicine in New York.
The Cook MyoSite partnership is the first time the islet cells, which are isolated and prepared at a lab provided by Cook MyoSite, are being used to treat disease, said Rita Bottino, director of Imagine Pharma’s Islet Programs.
“We are doing these things for patients,” Ms. Bottino said. “It’s a chance for a better life for patients and it’s going very well.”
Clinical uses of recovered islet cells include restoration of some insulin-making capability for patients who’ve undergone removal of the pancreas, the organ containing insulin-producing islet cells. Islet cells produce the hormone insulin, which helps the body use glucose for energy.
Acute and chronic pancreatitis, a painful, debilitating disease affecting adults and children, are among the reasons the pancreas is removed, usually as a last resort in treatment, Ms. Bottino said.
Imagine Pharma recovers diseased pancreases, and isolates and prepares whatever remaining islet cells that can be found in the organs, which are then administered to the patients as an autologous cell transplant. The cell transplant procedure, first done in 1989, can sometimes restore significant insulin-making capability, Ms. Bottino said.
Cook MyoSite was founded in 2002 as a University of Pittsburgh spinout company, which operates as a subsidiary of Cook Group Inc., a family owned group of international businesses that was started in 1963 in Bloomington, Ind.
“We are proud to collaborate with Imagine Pharma in their pursuit of innovative medical solutions and to support their clinical work at our cutting edge facilities,” MyoSite President Carl Cook said in a prepared statement.
