Samsara Sciences signs up QPS as liver cell distributor
The US-headquartered contract research organisation (CRO) said the deal – financial terms of which were not made public - will see it ship Samsara’s primary human hepatocytes to drug researchers worldwide.
The firm’s unit Hepatic Biosciences will also supply Samsara’s specialized non-parenchymal hepatic cells (NPCs) and assays to drug researchers.
Shiloh Barfield, QPS vice president of life sciences products, cited the new partnerships presence in important global markets as a likely growth driver.
“Our combined ability to isolate and provide human hepatic cells from U.S.-based laboratories in both North Carolina and San Diego is very exciting and will improve the overall quality, utility and availability of primary cells and NPCs to researchers globally.
Barfield also highlighted QPS and Samsara’s links with academia as important, suggesting that “ties to the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and the University of California San Diego ensure that our customers benefit from the cutting-edge research and product innovation.”
Samsara president Sharon Presnell was similarly positive about the partnership suggesting it would expand his firm’s customer base.
“Our mission is to ensure that researchers have access not only to premium-quality, ethically sourced hepatocytes, but that the other specialized cell types critical to liver biology and pathogenesis are also available at an equivalent level of quality and characterization.”
