New kit streamlines liver cell gene expression for faster drug discovery

Understanding how a potential drug is metabolised in the liver is a critical first step in early-stage drug development - but it’s often slow and labour-intensive. Traditional methods require breaking open liver cells, purifying RNA, and performing multiple manual steps, taking up to three hours before results are even available.

Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Invitrogen™ TaqMan™ Cells-to-CT™ HepatoExpress Kit cuts analysis time by more than half. By eliminating RNA purification, researchers can measure gene activity directly from liver cells (primary hepatocytes) in just 75 minutes, with only 10 minutes of hands-on work.

Designed specifically for hepatocytes - essential for drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics studies (ADME/DMPK) - the kit simplifies workflows, increases throughput, and provides earlier insights into how potential drugs behave in the body.

The kit also supports sustainability in the lab. Removing RNA purification reduces plastic use by 90.5% and relies on non-hazardous, REACH-compliant chemistry, making workflows cleaner and more environmentally friendly.

“Early incorporation of metabolism studies can accelerate drug discovery by allowing more compounds to be screened faster,” said Parita Ghia, Senior Director and General Manager, Genomics Sample Preparation at Thermo Fisher Scientific. “This kit delivers a streamlined workflow, reduces plastic waste, and maintains high-quality data - helping researchers move promising drug candidates closer to patients sooner.”

Ideal for biotech, biopharma, and pharma researchers, the kit offers high sensitivity comparable to traditional RNA purification methods while dramatically reducing plastic waste. It is specifically tailored for hepatocytes, making it perfect for early-stage drug discovery gene expression studies.

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