Cambridge organ-on-a-chip startup Emulate has raised $28.75 million in a Series B round, with aims to commercialize its “Human Emulation System” on the R&D circuit. The idea, as with most lab-on-a-chip technologies, is to enhance in vitro research so as to make animal and in-human studies more efficient – using algorithms and microfluidics to accurately predict human response to medicines, chemicals and diseases.
The financing will help expand Emulate’s organ-on-a-chip portfolio. Currently, it’s got organ emulations of the lung, liver, intestine and skin – but it plans to branch into organs like the kidney, heart and brain. Beyond that, however, is the concept of developing specific labs-on-chips to address important disease states, such as cancers, disorders of the intestine and microbiome, and infectious disease.
Emulate wants its technology to “operate as a plug-and-play system in the hands of product development teams at pharmaceutical, chemical, food and consumer products companies,” CEO James Coon said in a statement.
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.
Emulate says its organ chips mimic the functionality of specific organs — containing tiny channels that are lined with thousands of human cells and tissues. Each chip is about the size of a AA battery. This “micro-engineered environment recreates the natural physiology and mechanical forces that cells experience within the human body,” the company said in a statement.
Emulate raised $12 million in a Series A in 2014.
