QPS Holdings, a U.S.-based CRO, and Hepregen, developer of HepatoPac and HepatoMune "liver-in-a-dish" products, have partnered to provide QPS a license to offer drug metabolism and pharmacokinetic (DMPK) services to its clients using Hepregen's products, in both the U.S. and Europe. The partnership also includes marketing and sales, providing co-promotion of the HepatoPac-associated DMPK services. This arrangement is the first such partnership in the field for both companies.

QPS expects to begin offering metabolite identification, profiling and clearance studies using HepatoPac products to North American customers before the end of June, and to European customers in the third quarter. The U.S. services will be offered from its DMPK department in Newark, Del., and its newly established DMPK Hepatic Biosciences division based at the Hamner Institutes in Research Triangle Park, N.C., using rat, dog, monkey and human HepatoPac products.