Drug Screening Platform

Advancing antibody targets to treat diabetic retinopathy
in partnership with Abcellera
Biologics.

Our Mission

By utilizing our Blood Vessel Organoids, we want to generate an accurate, innovative, fast, cost-effective and animal-free model to assess and predict the vascular toxicity of novel drugs.
‍

About Cardiovascular toxicity

Cardiovascular toxicity represents one of the leading causes of clinical trial failure in drug development.

According to recent data, failure to predict cardiovascular toxicity of novel compounds/drugs entering clinical trials accounts for approximately 40% of them being eventually withdrawn due to safety concerns. Yet the negative effects on the heart and vasculature are often discovered only at advanced stages after multiple test cycles in animal testing.

The current situation

Rodents are currently the model organism of choice for preclinical toxicity tests of new compounds.

However, no currently used animal model resembles accurately the human environment with their physiology, vascular organization, vessel composition and immune system as well as life expectancy and lifestyle substantially differing from humans. Animals are also subject to strict ethical regulations and efforts by the FDA and EMA are being made to reduce their use in biotechnology research.

Our approach

In this project, we aim to develop a toxicity scoring system to assess drug candidates at the preclinical/clinical trial interphase with respect to their effect on human vasculature utilizing an in vitro organoid model.

Our predictive score will be designed to reflect the vasculature toxicity data reported for drug candidates that have already passed or failed clinical trials. The toxicity score can then be used as a predictive tool to assess the potential vasculature toxicity of drugs in development.