Lonza Expands Cell-Culture Portfolio with Quasi Vivo® System

Lonza announced the latest addition to its cell-culture product portfolio – the Quasi Vivo® System. The Quasi Vivo® Device consists of an advanced, interconnected fluidics system to create more physiologically relevant cell-culture conditions, helping researchers improve the predictive value of their studies.

This new product offering from Lonza is a result of a worldwide marketing and distribution agreement with Kirkstall – a biotechnology company based in Rotherham (UK).

A common issue faced by drug discovery scientists who use conventional in vitro culture systems is their poor translatability to humans. To address this problem, Kirkstall developed the Quasi Vivo® System, which consists of interconnected cell-culture chambers and a peristaltic pump to create a continuous flow of media over cells. As a result, cultures are exposed to more physiologically relevant conditions, increasing the predictive value of in vitro experiments.

The Quasi Vivo® System is available with three different culture chambers (QV500, QV600, and QV900) to support a wide range of applications, including submerged cell culture, co-culture and modeling of air-liquid and liquid-liquid interfaces. Not only is the Quasi Vivo® System easy to set up, it also enables close monitoring of variables during an experiment. Furthermore, the large scale and user configurability of the Quasi Vivo® System allows assays to be performed that are not possible using microfluidic systems.

“Building on Lonza’s industry-respected cell-culture portfolio, the addition of the Quasi Vivo® System is an important step forward in advancing the use of primary cells in biomedical research,” said Dr Maureen Bunger, Product Manager for ADME/Tox Solutions at Lonza. “Some of the limitations of primary cells, such as short life-spans and unstable phenotypes, are reduced when cells are cultured in a dynamic fluid system.”

She added: “The Quasi Vivo® System, which has been developed by Kirkstall’s scientists over the last 10 years, is an important addition to our portfolio of more than 100 different primary cell types and specialized media solutions.”

Kirkstall’s CEO, Dr Malcolm Wilkinson, commented: “The Quasi Vivo® System complements so many of Lonza’s existing products. It is already used in more than 70 labs worldwide across a wide variety of applications, and we look forward to working closely with Lonza to ensure the number of researchers benefiting from the system increases rapidly.”

More information about the Quasi Vivo® System is available on www.lonza.com/Quasi-Vivo

About Lonza
Lonza is one of the world’s leading and most-trusted suppliers to the pharmaceutical, biotech and specialty ingredients markets. As an integrated solutions provider, Lonza is boosting its value creation along and beyond the healthcare continuum with a strong focus on patient healthcare, consumer preventive healthcare and consumer’s healthy environment.

Lonza harnesses science and technology to create products that support safer and healthier living and that enhance the overall quality of life. With the recent Capsugel acquisition, Lonza now offers products and services from the custom development and manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients to innovative dosage forms for the pharma and consumer health and nutrition industries.

Benefiting from its regulatory expertise, Lonza is able to transfer its know-how from pharma to hygiene and fast-moving consumer goods all the way to coatings and composites and the preservation and protection of agricultural goods and other natural resources.

Founded in 1897 in the Swiss Alps, Lonza today is a well-respected global company with more than 100 sites and offices and approximately 14,500 full-time employees worldwide. The company generated sales of CHF 5.1 billion in 2017 with a CORE EBITDA of CHF 1.3 billion. Further information can be found at www.lonza.com.

Additional Information and Disclaimer
Lonza Group Ltd has its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. It has a secondary listing on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (“SGX-ST”). Lonza Group Ltd is not subject to the SGX-ST’s continuing listing requirements but remains subject to Rules 217 and 751 of the SGX-ST Listing Manual.