Objective

Challenges in drug discovery are limiting the productivity of the pharmaceutical industry. A high percentage of promising drugs that pass preclinical tests are fail at later stages in the drug discovery and development process primarily due to safety and toxicology issues unidentified in earlier stages. Improving the capability of in vitro testing and the development of more predictive models offers a promising solution to potentially reduce the high failure rate. Conventional research using 2D static in vitro models provide valuable insights however they fail to consider many dynamics and interactions between cells, often leading to an oversimplification of results. These methods are not an accurate representation of human physiology and do not reliably predict the effect a compound may have on the human body. Quasi Vivo® increases the physiological relevance of in vitro research by allowing for co-culture, development of 3D structures and incorporating flow to provide cells with a constant supply of nutrients. An environment with flow causes widespread changes in gene expression, including key detox genes and transporters. Quasi Vivo® has the ability to improve understanding of drug metabolism and help identify toxic compounds earlier in the process and enable more informed estimations of optimum safe and efficacious dose.