InSphero and Charles River Announce PDX Partnership
Charles River to license PDX lines to InSphero for development of 3D InSight™ PDX Microtissues, expansion of in vitro oncology services.
Schlieren, Switzerland - October 18, 2017 InSphero AG and Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. today announced a partnership through which Charles River will license its collection of patient-derived xenograft (PDX) tumors to InSphero. Additionally, Charles River will leverage InSphero’s proprietary 3D cell culture technology to further extend and complement its pre-clinical services, using in vitro 3D InSight™ Tumor Microtissues derived from its existing PDX collection.
“Over the past year, we have seen an increased demand from our oncology clients for enhanced speed and efficiency in early drug discovery,” said Birgit Girshick, Corporate Senior Vice President, Global Discovery Services at Charles River. “In vitro discovery platforms offer a strong solution, and our partnership with InSphero significantly bolsters our capabilities in this field.”
In vitro 3D solutions enable the evaluation of a compound’s potency compared to standard-of-care drugs. This in vitrotesting provides for identification of the most promising drug candidates, tumor histotypes and molecular subtypes. Data collected in these tests can then be used to select PDX models for subsequent in vivo efficacy tests. The data can also be used to run systematic combination therapy studies over a range of concentrations and to correlate the tumor response with molecular data.
“Licensing Charles River’s robust library of PDX tumor models significantly expands our current disease model portfolio in diabetes and liver fibrosis” said Jan Lichtenberg, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder at InSphero. “The combination of their extensive background in PDX tumors, combined with our proprietary and industry-validated 3D cell culture technology, will help pave the way for future breakthroughs. Expanding our 3D InSight™ Discovery Platform to Charles River’s PDX models will offer scalability, speed and unmet biological relevance in vitro.”
To learn more about InSphero 3D InSight™ Tumor Microtissues and Oncology Drug Discovery Services, visit www.insphero.com.
To learn more about Charles River’s oncology research capabilities, visit www.criver.com.
InSphero contacts
Dr. Frank Junker
Chief Business Officer
Phone +41 44 5150490
frank.junker@insphero.com
Dr. Patrick Guye
Chief Scientific Officer
Phone +41 44 5150490
patrick.guye@insphero.com
About InSphero
InSphero sets the standard for in vitro testing of novel drugs in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry with comprehensive solutions that provide greater confidence in decision making. Its robust and highly physiologically relevant suite of 3D InSight™ Microtissues and Services are used by major pharmaceutical companies worldwide to increase efficiency in drug discovery and safety testing. InSphero patent-pending technologies and methods enable large-scale, reproducible production of scaffold-free 3D microtissues driven solely by cellular self-assembly. The company specializes in delivering assay-ready and custom 3D models derived from liver, pancreas, and tumor tissues, to provide unrivalled biological insight into liver toxicology, metabolic diseases (e.g., diabetes and liver diseases), and oncology (with a focus on immuno-oncology). All InSphero microtissues are thoroughly validated to ensure the highest quality, certified for use in a variety of assays, and shipped globally to customers in a patented, easy-to-use spheroid-optimized platform, ready for research. Field application scientists and research staff with expertise in working with 3D models help ensure efficient integration and onsite training as needed. For customers who prefer an outsourcing strategy with fast turnaround, InSphero also offers contract research services utilizing their 3D microtissue models.
InSphero 3D InSight™ solutions drive significant findings in peer-reviewed journals, through collaborative projects such as EU-ToxRisk and HeCaToS, and have gained validation in the world’s largest government institutions and pharmaceutical, chemical and cosmetics companies.
Founded in 2009, the privately held company is headquartered in Schlieren, Switzerland with subsidiaries in the United States (Brunswick, ME) and Waldshut, Germany. It has been recognized for its scientific and commercial achievements with a number of national and international awards.
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Image caption: InSphero is partnering with Charles River to develop 3D InSight™ Tumor Microtissues from patient-derived xenograft (PDX) lines to improve the physiological relevance of tumor models used for in vitro oncology drug discovery.
