3D printing gets a lot of hype for the things it will someday be able to do, like replicate human organs and create customized prosthetics. But it’s doing some pretty cool things in the meantime, too, like helping researchers create living models of tumors so they can more effectively identify and test potential drugs.
Bioprinting company Organovo Holdings Inc. (OTCQX: ONVO) today announced a collaboration with Oregon Health & Science University’s Knight Cancer Institute in which it will create 3D models of breast and pancreatic tumors for researchers to use in drug discovery and development.
Joseph Carroll, the associate director, business development of the Knight Cancer Institute, said the collaboration will bring together the work of numerous researchers across the institute who are studying different cell types independently.
“In research we think of cancer as a cell in a dish, but really it’s a collection of cells working in tissue,” he said. “This will allow us to better understand the tumor micro-environment, and to see the many cell types together and the molecules they are sending out to one another.”
Today, researchers use animal models and cell lines to identify and test potential new drugs. Having more robust, 3D disease models for what Carroll called “preclinical-plus” testing could give researchers better insight into how tumors behave and how they respond to drugs.
With that kind of knowledge, they may be more suited to predict which drug candidates would and wouldn’t work in humans. That’s useful when considering the high price of clinical trials, and the fact that about 4 of 5 drugs that enter human trials don’t ever make it through the trial and approval process for any number of reasons.
Carroll said that although the institute is expecting to get the Organovo equipment next month, it will take a while to reach the point where it will be used to screen drugs. Within six months, he said, he hopes to be printing prototypes of tumors, with the goal of being able to test drugs on them within two years.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
OSHU is most known for the research of Dr. Brian Druker, who identified and developed the targeted cancer drug Gleevec, which was FDA-approved in 2001 and is marketed by Novartis. Organovo is a San Diego-based company that’s created a hardware and software platform that shapes human cells into 3D tissue. Its other partners include Pfizer and United Therapeutics.
[Photo from Organovo]
