The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 275 No 7369 p404
1 October 2005

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BPC News summary

Tissue culture chip could help speed up drug development and reduce animal testing

A microchip that could be used to speed up the drug development process and reduce the need for animal testing is being developed by US researchers, Leslie Benet, professor of biopharmaceutical sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, told conference participants. He said: “What we are trying to do is to mimic what goes on in the body on a micro scale.”

The microfluidic circuit, which measures 22mm in width, has been designed to assess the effects of new molecular entities in animal or human cells using a high throughput process. It contains a series of interconnected organ or tissue compartments each containing a culture of living cells. The compartments are connected by micro-
channels through which culture medium circulates. The test drug is added to this culture medium and its effect within each compartment is measured. The process will allow researchers to assess whether a particular animal model is appropriate for further testing.

Dr Benet explained: “At the moment, we do not know which animal is going to be useful. So the industry often carries out animal tests that turn out not to be predictive at all.” The system would also provide data on how a particular new molecular entity would be metabolised and eliminated by an in vivo system. “We are talking about speeding up the early stages of drug development and applying a more rational approach to getting a drug into humans,” he added.

Dr Benet is chairman of the scientific advisory board for the Hurel Corporation, which has been set up to develop the chip commercially.