In November 2015, Hepregen Corporation and the ESI BIO products division of BioTime Inc. merged to form a multinational cell-based assay company. doing business as Ascendance. In March 2018, BioIVT, a provider of biospecimens and related services, acquired Ascendance Biotechnology, Inc. Hepregen Corporation had originally been developing bioengineered solutions for drug development, including a platform for advanced toxicity screening and drug discovery. With its high fidelity model of the human liver, Hepregen's bioengineered solution was designed to improve predictivity of how drugs will affect the liver once in humans. This company ihadbeen spinout of the 2006 project desinated Human liver models for faster, safer drug development which was supported by the MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation. HepatoPac, a bio-engineered micro-liver platform for use in a range of applications, including metabolite identification, toxicity screening, clearance, drug-drug interactions, transporter involvement, in silico models, toxicogenomics, and disease modeling applications in humans. The firm's capabilities are also used in cosmetic and environmental testing industries.
