Ethnically diverse liver models for global research and drug/vaccine development

用于全球研究和药物/疫苗开发的种族多样化肝脏模型

• 批准号: 86738
• 金额: $ 10.13万
• 依托单位: CYTOCHROMA LIMITED
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Collaborative R&D
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=86738
• 关键词: Ethnically; diverse; liver; models; global

Access to medicines and anti-viral vaccines would have significant societal, environmental, and economic impacts, both in the short and long term. The current COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the inefficiency in how novel therapeutics are made and tested. New drug and vaccine development takes on average \>10 years, with costs in excess of 2 and 0.5 billion USD respectively. Latter stage therapeutic failures amount to over 90% in clinical trials, because predicting reactions in humans cannot be determined with current models and tests. Cytochroma manufacturers liver models to accurately test the safety and effect of new drugs early in the drug development process. These stem cell-derived liver models are made from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) - an unlimited, sustainable, and ethical source of cells for testing.Years of research combined with cutting-edge-technology has resulted in Cytochroma's novel, highly reproducible, and scalable method of differentiating iPSC into liver models. These are ideal for drug development/toxicity testing but must be shipped live, which enables rapid testing as cells are ready for immediate use. However, global disruption to numerous academic and commercial institutions as a result of COVID-19 has highlighted the need for a more flexible cell source and supply.Cytochroma proposes to utilise this funding to develop a cryopreserved (frozen), shippable format for its liver models. This flexible, ethical, and diverse source of cells has the potential to help identify novel treatments for COVID-19 and offset the negative impact on Cytochroma's loss of sales. Frozen liver models can be shipped worldwide, significantly increasing our customer base and enabling access to a growing global market worth over 14 billion USD by 2025\.Cytochroma has recruited a talented, diverse, and capable team and are based in a building that has been selected as "essential" to allow vital research, such as ours, to continue during lockdown. Furthermore, our automation means we have the capacity to generate cells at a significant scale.We seek a revolution in preclinical testing and substantial improvements in the efficiency of new drug and vaccine development. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and the widely forecast economic recession has adversely impacted Cytochroma's efforts to raise seed capital. As such, the Company needs access to a relatively small amount of grant funding in order to get this project underway.Global access to more accurate models of human tissue will reduce the need for animal testing, saving time and money. Furthermore, models that can recapitulate the world's diversity will enable the identification of much needed universal treatments for pandemics such as COVID-19\.

无论从短期还是长期来看，获得药物和抗病毒疫苗都将产生重大的社会、环境和经济影响。目前的新冠肺炎疫情突显了新疗法的制造和测试效率低下。新药和疫苗的研发平均耗时10年，成本分别超过20亿美元和5亿美元。在临床试验中，后期治疗失败的比例超过90%，因为目前的模型和测试无法确定对人体反应的预测。Cytochroma制造商建立肝脏模型，在药物开发过程的早期准确测试新药的安全性和效果。这些干细胞来源的肝脏模型是由诱导多能干细胞(IPSC)制成的，IPSC是一种无限的、可持续的和伦理的测试细胞来源。多年来的研究与尖端技术相结合，产生了Cytochroma的新颖、高度可重复性和可扩展的区分IPSC到肝脏模型的方法。它们是药物开发/毒性测试的理想选择，但必须现场运输，这样可以在细胞准备好立即使用时进行快速测试。然而，新冠肺炎在全球范围内对众多学术和商业机构造成的破坏凸显了对更灵活细胞来源和供应的需求。Cytochroma建议利用这笔资金为其肝脏模型开发一种冷冻(冷冻)、可运输的格式。这种灵活、符合道德和多样化的细胞来源有可能帮助确定新冠肺炎的新疗法，并抵消对Cytochroma销售损失的负面影响。冷冻肝脏模型可以运往世界各地，极大地增加了我们的客户基础，并使我们能够在2025年前进入价值超过140亿美元的不断增长的全球市场。Cytochroma招募了一支才华横溢、多元化且能干的团队，他们的总部设在一座被选为允许像我们这样的重要研究在封锁期间继续进行的“必要”建筑内。此外，我们的自动化意味着我们有能力大规模生产细胞。我们寻求临床前试验的革命，并大幅提高新药和疫苗开发的效率。然而，新冠肺炎疫情和广泛预测的经济衰退对Cytochroma筹集种子资金的努力产生了不利影响。因此，该公司需要获得相对较少的赠款资金才能启动这一项目。全球范围内获得更准确的人体组织模型将减少对动物实验的需求，节省时间和金钱。此外，能够概括世界多样性的模型将能够确定新冠肺炎等流行病亟需的普遍治疗方法。