Project description
Novel 3D cell culture platform to substitute animals in the preclinical testing
More than 85 % of early clinical trials currently fail despite promising results in preclinical in vitro testing. The main reason is associated with in vitro 2D cell cultures that do not recapitulate the living body environment. Consequently, preclinical animal testing remains a benchmark, despite the associated cost and ethical concerns. The Czech company InoCure is developing a unique 3D scaffolding platform for in vitro cell culture with a drug delivery embedded system. The goal is to significantly improve preclinical-to-clinical translation efficiency while providing an alternative to animal testing models. The EU-funded DifMATRIX project aims to accomplish the feasibility study, evaluating the legal, economic and technical viability of the technology introduction to the market.
Objective
The use of in-vitro testing (in simulated environment) is the future of drug development, cancer research and medical research in general since it overcomes the practical and ethical issues associated with human and animal experimentation. However, as much as 85% of early clinical trials currently fail despite successful preclinical in-vitro testing; in the case of clinical cancer trials it is less than 8%. The main reason for such low success rates is that currently used 2D cells do not behave the same in living bodies as in cultures. As a consequence, animal testing continues to be widespread despite the associated cost and strong ethical concerns it raises. This is also extremely costly in time and resources which raise consumer prices for life-saving medications.
InoCure is addressing this problem with the DifMATRIX - a unique 3D scaffolding platform with drug delivery embedded system, for cell culture used in molecular biology and tissue engineering. DifMATRIX enables to simulate natural cell phenotype (in vivo) in the in-vitro environment. It redefines in-vitro preclinical testing standards, significantly improving preclinical-to-clinical translation efficiency and provide an alternative to animal testing models. The predicted impact of the project is to eliminate the animal testing phase from the drug development process.
The project is well aligned with new trends in cell and tissue culture supplier market. Globally, this market is witnessing significant growth due to increasing demand for biopharmaceuticals and increasing R&D in this field. The global cell/tissue engineering supplies market is expected to reach $28 billion in 2020. The market demand for DifMATRIX has been confirmed by customers currently using our passive InoMATRIX product, and by the letters of intent from prospective customers.
Following the proposed Phase 1, Inocure target is to apply for the Phase 2 project to scale-up the production and launch commercialisation of DifMATRIX.
Fields of science
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacydrug discovery
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugs
- medical and health sciencesmedical biotechnologytissue engineering
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncology
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmolecular biology
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
11000 Praha
Czechia
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.