Crown Bioscience has launched its ‘3D Ex Vivo Patient Tissue Platform’ which, using freshly collected patient tumour material, can accurately measure oncology and immuno-oncology drug-induced tumour killing and endogenous immune cell proliferation in a high throughput format.
Researchers presented data on the new platform at 2021’s AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, which took place virtually on October 7-10, 2021.
The proprietary technology, developed at Crown Bioscience’s recently acquired site in Leiden, The Netherlands (formerly known as OcellO) aims to improve clinical success rates by using the most patient-relevant tumour samples to better predict tumour response to potential drug candidates.
Leo Price, Senior Vice President, In Vitro, said: “We believe this approach provides greater translational relevance in drug development by using immuno-competent primary human tumour tissue to help analyse drug candidate responses before the programme enters clinical trial. This approach is an optimal fit with our mission to help deliver the right drug to the right patient at the right time.”
The ‘3D Ex Vivo Patient Tissue Platform’ utilises patient tumour tissue isolated from biopsies, surgical resections, ascites, or pleural effusion samples that are processed within 24 hours to preserve the tumour microenvironment. The automated high throughput platform uses high content 3D imaging and image analysis to quantify distinct responses of individual cell populations in fresh patient tissues. These analyses can assess responses to different doses of therapeutic candidates at various timepoints and can determine the effects of the drug or combination of drugs on tumour killing and immune cell proliferation.
Armin Spura, Chief Executive Officer of Crown Bioscience said: “We believe this new service can help fill a critical gap in today’s research landscape with early translational patient-relevant ex vivo models that can assess efficacy and determine mechanisms of action. This new service offering is designed to help mitigate the high failure rates of clinical programmes in oncology, and was one of the objectives coming out of our recent OcellO acquisition. We are delighted to provide immediate value to our customers from this investment and look forward to the future value that this acquisition will bring.”
Image credit: National Cancer Institute
