Patient Safety Needs Modernization. Now

In this podcast, co-founder and CTO of Emulate, Inc, discusses why now is the time for researchers to accelerate their transition from animal models to human relevant-science with Organ-on-chip technology. There is no doubt that animal models have contributed to major advances in medicine, however, a growing body of evidence suggests that animal models are seriously lacking in both sensitivity and specificity when it comes to predicting drug toxicity in humans. In a recent study published to bioRxiv, researchers found the human Liver-Chip to have an 87% sensitivity and 100% specificity when differentiating hepatotoxic from non-hepatotoxic small molecules. Importantly, all 22 hepatotoxic drugs included in the study had previously been classified as safe due to a lack of toxicity in animal models. Collectively, these compounds resulted in 208 patient fatalities and 10 liver transplants. Had the human Liver-Chip been used during preclinical screening of these compounds, it’s likely that many of these fatalities could have been avoided. By adopting organ-on-a-chip, you can help make the drug development process safer, more efficient and more humane.