Cellular Dynamics and Roche Conduct “Stem Cells in Drug Discovery and Development” Workshop at the Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting

MADISON, Wis., March 2, 2010 – Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) and Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. (Roche) today announced a workshop to be held during the Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, UT, on March 7 - 11.

The workshop, entitled “Toxicology in the 21st Century: Stem Cells in Drug Discovery and Development,” will present the current understanding of pluripotent stem cells and their utility in providing cellular models, how they are being employed to understand pharmaceutical mechanisms of efficacy and toxicity, and the practical issues and obstacles that will need to be addressed to enable regenerative cellular therapy to become a reality. Widely regarded as the father of stem cell research, Dr. James Thomson, CDI Chief Scientific Officer and Director of Regenerative Biology at the Morgridge Institute for Research, University of Wisconsin – Madison, will discuss his predictions on the impact of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) on personalized therapeutics during the panel discussion.

“iPSC-derived human cells are a very promising approach to drug discovery and toxicology testing and have many advantages over current cell models,” said Chris Parker, Chief Commercial Officer of CDI and co-chairperson of the workshop. “We organized this workshop, in collaboration with one of our customers, Roche, to present the iPSC-based cell model to the pharmaceutical toxicology community.”

The presentation schedule:

• Human Inducible Pluripotent Stem Cell Derived In Vitro Models – the Path to a Better Understanding of Individual Biology and Their Utility in Drug Discovery and Development, Chris Parker, CDI, Madison, WI
• Application of Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes in Toxicology and Safety Pharmacology, Kyle Kolaja, Roche, Nutley, NJ
• Pharmaceutical Perspectives on Introduction of Regenerative Medicine Concepts into the Existing Pharmaceutical Paradigm, Ruth McKernan, Pfizer, Groton, CT
• Developing Stem Cell-Based Therapies: FDA Product and Preclinical Regulatory Considerations, Mercedes Serabian, U.S. FDA, Silver Spring, MD
• How the Understanding of the Biology of Inducible Pluripotent Stem Cells Will Evolve: Predictions on Methods of Stem Cell Induction and the Impact on Cell-Based Therapy, James Thomson, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI

About Roche

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world’s largest biotech company with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, virology, inflammation, metabolism and CNS. Roche is also the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics, tissue-based cancer diagnostics and a pioneer in diabetes management. Roche’s personalised healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostic tools that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. In 2009, Roche had over 80,000 employees worldwide and invested almost 10 billion Swiss francs in R&D ($9.1B US). The Group posted sales of 49.1 billion Swiss francs ($45.1B US). Genentech, United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche has a majority stake in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For more information: www.roche.com.

About Cellular Dynamics International, Inc.

Cellular Dynamics International, Inc. (CDI) is a leading developer and marketer of next-generation stem cell technologies for drug development and personalized medicine applications.  CDI harnesses the power of pluripotent stem cells and their ability to differentiate into any cell type for world-class drug development tools.  In addition, it is the leader in iPSC technology, the production of pluripotent stem cell lines from adult tissue.  CDI was founded in 2004 by Dr. James Thomson, a pioneer in human embryonic stem cells from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. CDI’s facilities are located in Madison, Wisconsin.