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.
FDA grants Ultomiris accelerated approval for primary immunoglobulin A nephropathy, a pharma funding roundup covers Alcon’s $550 million acquisition of Neurotech and AI Proteins’ collaboration with Astellas, and Incubate’s John Stanford on which therapeutic areas MFN deals might hit hardest.
Alcon is acquiring Neurotech Pharmaceuticals to add the only FDA-approved MacTel cell therapy to its retina portfolio, while AI Proteins has enters a collaboration with Astellas to design novel miniprotein therapeutics.
A new ICER and West Health report finds median drug launch prices climbed to $257,000, the FDA approves GSK’s Hibsago as the first functional-cure therapy for chronic hepatitis B, and CSL names Deborah Waterhouse as CEO and managing director.
Median net launch prices for new drugs climbed between 2022 and 2025 to $257,000, according to a new ICER and West Health report that also found persistent coverage and access barriers for patients.
