October 28th, 2015, Grenoble, France- CYTOO announces today that Daiichi Sankyo Company Limited, a Japanese pharmaceutical manufacturer with global presence, has selected CYTOO in vitro muscle platform MyoScreen™ to develop a novel cell-based assay and screen drug candidates on a key mechanism involved in several muscular diseases. 

MyoScreen™ is a high throughput and high content screening platform that enables the identification and characterization of new compounds that affect muscle hypertrophy, contractility, metabolism and muscular diseases. The system thus meets the broad requirements of the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and animal health industries aiming ultimately to discover new active ingredients. 

Dr. Luc Selig, CEO of CYTOO commented: “Just a few months after announcing the commercial launch of MyoScreen™, we are proud that Daiichi Sankyo has chosen our platform to identify compounds targeting musculoskeletal diseases. This agreement is a further validation of the value of this unique and innovative drug discovery tool, and follows the signature of several agreements with leaders in the animal health, nutraceuticals and pharmaceutical industries.” 

The human body has more than 600 muscles that provide the power for us to stand and move around. Muscle is an essential tissue affected by numerous factors such as loss of muscle mass associated with ageing (sarcopenia) or certain medications (cachexia) while neuromuscular diseases such as myopathies (Duchenne muscular dystrophy), muscle weakness (myasthenia), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinal muscular atrophy directly impact an individual’s motor abilities. 

Financial terms of this agreement are not disclosed.