Exten Industries Inc. (Exten) (OTCBB:EXTI) announced it has acquired all outstanding shares of MultiCell Associates Inc. (MCA) of Warwick, R.I. and will operate MCA as a wholly-owned subsidiary.
MCA owns the rights to certain patented technology for engineering (immortalizing) human and other mammalian liver cells. These non-tumorigenic cells have applications for drug discovery and toxicological testing by the pharmaceutical industry and could perform metabolic functions in liver assist devices. Further, the cells have shown the ability to generate very complex proteins that have a variety of therapeutic and research applications. The company has also developed proprietary culture media, which it will supply to selected cell customers.
Exten’s majority-owned Xenogenics Corp. subsidiary and newly acquired MCA subsidiary will continue to jointly re-design and develop Xenogenics’ Sybiol(R) synthetic bioliver, a liver assist device. The project involves an engineered liver cell line specific to the device.
