Carcinotech 3D prints tumor models to accelerate the development of anti-cancer drugs

According to statistics, about 26,000 people are battling disease every day, so it is crucial to accelerate the speed of drug development. About 9.5 million people died of cancer worldwide in 2018, a staggering number that has made cancer a major global concern and has driven the development of related drugs.Therefore, variousmedicalTechnology companies are finding ways to speed up drug development. In March 2022, the Antarctic Bear was informed that Carcinotech in 3DbiologyThe field of printing has found a niche to develop advanced tumor models that can help pharmaceutical companies,surgicaldoctors, pathologists andclinicalPhysicians accelerate drug development and bring more effective cancer treatments to market.

The new UK-based company, Carcinotech, was founded in 2018 by 28-year-old, award-winning stem cell researcher Ishani Malhotra, and is dedicated to bioprinting tumor models using patient-specific cancer stem cells. It uses stem cells to create miniature tumor models that mimic the cancer environment and can be used for drug experiments, preclinical trials and personalized medicine testing.

Malhotra explained: “Tumor models, especially the humanized models being developed by Carcinotech, are key to solving today’s cancer problems. Carcinotech’s models can provide a rapid, ethical, accurate and sustainable drug testing platform for a variety of drugs, able to work with Combination therapies are tested together. Carcinotech’s model is also a great preclinical platform to reduce animal testing and eliminate the long-term goal of animal testing as a whole. Since Carcinotech is also developing patient biopsy models that can be used for personalizationmedicineThe test provides a platform that includes making treatment decisions directly for patients. This is where biotechnology is heading, precision medical testing in oncology. “

△Ishani Malhotra, founder of Carcinotech. Image courtesy of Carcinotech.

Carcinotech’s target markets range from pharmaceutical companies to cancer institutes and academia, aiming to disrupt traditional cancer drug discovery platforms.Currently, there are about 50 promising anticancer drug candidates on the market, and the FDA (U.S.
food
and Drug Administration) approved oncology clinical trials fail rates as high as 97%, often due to problems with drug efficacy or toxicity. Despite the record number of approved cancer drugs in recent years, oncology remains challenging. The average time from drug development to marketing approval is 9 to 12 years.

The numbers weigh even more when we consider how much time many cancer patients have left to live. Even if not all cancers lead to death, Cancer Research UK estimates that half of people diagnosed with cancer in England and Wales live 10 years or more. Although the institute also highlights that cancer survival rates are improving and have doubled over the past 40 years, the time it takes for these drugs to reach patients is still too long.

Instead, Carcinotech hopes to revolutionize traditional drug testing.rely on
CELLINK
Award-winning bioprinting technology Bio X and Bio X6 printers, the startup offers a cancer model that can test more than 96 drugs at a time and can be manufactured against any cancer type in human and animal cell lines.

△Cellink’s BIO X bioprinter. Image courtesy of Cellink.

Malhotra walks us through the process of creating these tumor models. First, the company obtains biopsy samples from patients along with matched whole blood. It then isolated heterogeneous cells from these samples, including different cell types and immune cells, and used them to bioprint tumors, which she described as “replicas” of the original tumor samples. “Using the original tumor as a blueprint, we were able to develop accurate models for drug testing in the form of multiple drug tests,” Malhotra said. “With access to samples from different patient populations, accurate treatment decisions can be made with different patient datasets.” “

△The development process of Carcinotech. Image courtesy of Carcinotech.

So far, the startup has developed models of brain, lung, and breast cancer, and has received requests to develop models of various cancers, with powerfulstandardOperating procedures (SOPs) and tissue engineering techniques allow them to develop models of any cancer type. Future plans include expansion into leukemia, lung, ovarian, colorectal, bladder and prostate cancers.

Carcinotech started out during Malhotra’s postgraduate studies in regenerative medicine at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and is currently working with commercial clients in the UK, Europe and the US. This project is the result of her unique skills in cancer diagnosis, treatment and stem cell engineering. She started her Carcinotech journey with the support of the Technology Transfer Unit known as Edinburgh Innovation and Scottish Enterprise (Scotland’s national economic development agency and a non-sectoral public body of local government). Although it is not considered a spin-off company, it is still strongly supported by Edinburgh Innovations, who was able to secure labs and office space on one of the local’s prestigious campuses.Since then, Carcinotech has grown from various R&D grants andInvestraised £350,000 (~$469,000) in funding.In addition, the support of board members and investors has helped the company gain earlyincomeand grew from a single founder to a team of six.

△ Cell photographs of breast cancer structures. Image courtesy of Carcinotech.

Building 3D models of tumors is a niche but fast-growing field, Malhotr noted.There is currently a lot of capital in drug development, design and therapy, but more and more private investors, venture capitalists and corporations are looking to invest in innovative startups that combine different fields, such as Carcinotech, which leverages3D bioprintingThe power of oncology research to solve problems in drug testing and preclinical trials.

With strong demand for accelerated drug development and approval, Carcinotech’s technology can help bring more cancer drugs to market, while enabling insights into cancer recurrence and mechanisms, and reducing animal testing. Malhotra has been granted one patent and is applying for another. Like many startups in the field, Malhotra is committed to developing more cancer tumor models and innovating, poised to become a global enabler for rapid testing of cancer drugs and future patients.

(responsible editor: admin)

Carcinotech 3D prints tumor models to accelerate the development of anti-cancer drugs

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