CN Bio and Altis Biosystems partner to develop next-generation human Gut/Liver in vitro model for advanced ADME studies
January 23, 2024 – Biotechnology – ADME, Altis Biosystems, CN Bio, organ-on-a-chip
- Strategic partnership harnesses respective organ-specific expertise to provide complete human-derived Organ-on-a-Chip solution for more accurate in vitro ADME predictions
- Early access to dual-organ model available through CN Bio’s Contract Research Services
23 January 2024 — Cambridge, UK, and North Carolina, US — CN Bio and Altis Biosystems, Inc, leading developers of in vitro human organ models that optimise the accuracy and efficiency of drug development, today announced a strategic partnership. Through this partnership, Altis’ human RepliGut Planar-Jejunum model will be integrated with CN Bio’s PhysioMimix Liver-on-a-chip to create a primary human microphysiological system (MPS), with inter-organ communication to mimic the oral drug administration route. Harnessing both companies’ organ-specific expertise, the MPS provides preclinical researchers with a robust and reliable Gut/Liver model for enhancing the in vitro to in vivo translatability of oral bioavailability studies.
Absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) data is collected during drug discovery and development to predict how a drug interacts with a patient’s body, helping to optimise drug properties, support candidate selection and inform the design of the clinical phase. However, as many as 5-10% of clinical failures are attributed to issues with pharmacokinetics in drug development. Existing preclinical tools to assess human oral bioavailability are limited; cell culture models are simplistic, whilst interspecies differences limit the translatability of data between animal models and humans. CN Bio and Altis’ integrated Gut/Liver MPS bridges this gap for more accurate predictions of human drug oral bioavailability earlier in the drug development process. The model enables researchers to select only the most promising candidates for animal studies, better inform in vivo study design and minimise the number of animals required.
Primary human cells are considered the gold standard for advanced in vitro models; however, gut cells present challenges that limit their use. Altis’ RepliGut Planar model overcomes these limitations by using donor intestinal stem cells that are sequentially proliferated and differentiated into the key cell types in the human gastrointestinal epithelium. RepliGut Planar models developed from the different intestine regions recreate the cellular lifecycle of the intestinal crypt and can be used for a variety of applications. By interconnecting the RepliGut Planar-Jejunum model with CN Bio’s industry-leading primary human Liver-on-a-Chip, the dual-organ Gut/Liver model represents the next-generation of CN Bio’s oral bioavailability assay. The unique solution generated via this partnership will enable researchers to maximise the accuracy and predictability of in vitro derived data.
Early access is available through CN Bio’s ADME Contract Research Services, prior to the release of a commercial product for use with the PhysioMimix Dual-organ System.
Dr Yassen Abbas, lead scientist at CN Bio, said: “At CN Bio, we strive to develop the most predictive and human-relevant assays possible – we recognise Altis is specialised in modelling the intestinal epithelium, so we anticipated working together would provide a unique opportunity. Through this strategic partnership, we can capitalise on each other’s strengths to provide the industry with a best-in-class solution to address researchers’ needs – we are excited by its ongoing success.”
Dr Ben Scruggs, CEO at Altis Biosystems, commented: “We are very excited to be embarking on this relationship with CN-Bio. Coming together like this enables researchers to benefit from decades of organ-specific expertise combined into one dual-organ MPS solution. Our collaborative relationship supports Altis’ ongoing mission to develop advanced cell-based models and assays that bridge the gap between basic research and clinical translation, and it’s a great step in our evolution as a company.”
About CN Bio
CN Bio is a leading organ-on-a-chip (OOC) company that offers a portfolio of products and services to optimise the accuracy and efficiency of bringing new medicines to market; providing significant savings in cost and time to drug discovery and development pipelines. With more than a decade of research and development experience in multi-organ microphysiology, CN Bio aims to transform the way human-relevant pre-clinical data is generated through the development of advanced in vitro human organ models. The company’s range of lab-benchtop PhysioMimix microphysiological systems (MPS) enable researchers to model human biology in the lab through rapid and predictive 3D human tissue-based studies that harness microfluidic technology to provide nutrients and mimic blood flow. The technology bridges the gap between traditional cell culture and human studies, advancing towards the simulation of human biological conditions to support the accelerated and more efficient development of new therapeutics, whilst reducing the dependence on animal model usage. CN Bio’s MPS support researchers that require reliable, data-rich, in vitro studies, to uncover novel mechanistic insights into a broad range of biological processes across healthy and diseased cell-types, in addition to identifying novel therapeutic targets and investigating drug efficacy, pharmacokinetics and potential toxicity. The company’s next-generation OOC assays span a range of organ types, including lung, liver and gut. Single organs can be linked together into multi-organ systems to simulate processes such as drug absorption and metabolism, or to understand interactions between organs, such as inflammation. Harnessing these assays, its portfolio of MPS, 3D validated cells, compatible consumable plates and research services have been developed to address drug development bottlenecks across a range of therapeutic areas, including metabolic and infectious diseases, oncology and inflammation. CN Bio’s headquarters and laboratories are based in Cambridge, UK, with an international network of distributors. Visit: cn-bio.com
About Altis Biosystems
Altis Biosystems is a leader in human cell-based intestinal model systems for pre-clinical drug development. The company offers both kits and assay services for utilizing a series of in vitro, stem cell derived intestinal cell models called RepliGut Systems. RepliGut Systems consist of human donor stem cells isolated from multiple regions of the intestine and include key cell types in the gastrointestinal epithelium. RepliGut Models can be used for compound screening, disease modelling, toxicity, efficacy and basic research studies. RepliGut Systems can also be used to study many aspects of drug disposition including metabolism and drug absorption. Altis’ team of industry leading scientists share a passion for creating high-throughput, scalable and translatable products and services to advance our understanding of human biology, support accelerated drug development and ultimately improve patient outcomes. For more information, please visit altisbiosystems.com
