Technology to test medicinal product efficacy

The start-up InSphero from the Greater Zurich Area and the American company PharmaNest have developed a new technology together according to a press release. This aims to speed up the search for potential active substances to treat non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. These types of drugs are slow to develop across the world as there are many limitations when conducting efficacy tests on humans.

The new preclinical research platform from InSphero and PharmaNest aims to remedy this. It is based on both companies’ knowledge in the areas of tissue engineering, disease modeling, artificial intelligence, and quantitative image analysis. The platform can be used to test the efficacy of medicinal products. According to the information provided, the data from the platform correlate well with those of adult patients who have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

InSphero is a spin-off from the University of Zurich (UZH) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH). Headquartered at the Bio-Technopark Schlieren-Zürich, the company specializes in artificial 3D organs that can speed up the development of new medicinal products.

PharmaNest is based in Princeton in the US state of New Jersey. It specializes in digital solutions for drug development.