NanoSurface Biomedical Launches New Drug Screening Platform with Structurally Matured Human Heart Tissues Derived from Stem Cells

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/biotech?src=hash” target=”_blank”gt;#biotechlt;/agt;–NanoSurface Biomedical, a leading provider of biomimetic cell-based
assay products and services, announced today the launch of the
NanoSurface Car(ina)™ platform for highly predictive pre-clinical drug
screening, using structurally matured human induced pluripotent stem
cell (iPSC) derived heart tissues. This innovative human stem cell-based
technology enables drug developers to accurately test the safety and
efficacy of new drugs earlier in the drug development process and
promises to help get safer medicines to market in less time and at lower
cost.

Bringing a new medicine to market often takes over a decade and costs
more than $2 billion. Cardiac safety issues often remain undetected
until late stage clinical trials, or even after market release,
contributing to high failure costs and potential harm to patients.
Standard pre-clinical animal and non-human in vitro tests often
fail to accurately predict how a drug will affect human patients. This
has motivated the use of human cells, including stem cell-derived
cardiomyocytes, for pre-clinical drug testing. It has remained a major
challenge to create cardiac tissues from stem cells that sufficiently
mimic the adult human heart to accurately predict drug effects in
patients.

The NanoSurface Car(ina) platform uses human stem cell-derived cardiac
micro-tissues that closely mimic structural and functional
characteristics of the adult human heart. “Biomimetic structural cues
trick cells in the dish into developing like they are in the human
body,” said NanoSurface CEO Michael Cho. After treatment with candidate
drugs, changes to the electrical activity of these cells can be
monitored as an indication of cardiac safety issues, including
pro-arrhythmia. These and other drug effects can be evaluated in
high-throughput, enabling rapid screening of thousands of drugs.

“At NanoSurface, we strive to make cells in the dish resemble cells in
the body,” said Dr. Nicholas Geisse, Chief Science Officer of
NanoSurface Biomedical. “The Car(ina) platform gives researchers access
to human-relevant data earlier in the drug development process,
improving confidence that new therapeutics will translate to the clinic.”

For more information on Car(ina), visit www.nanosurfacebio.com/carina.

About NanoSurface Biomedical

NanoSurface Biomedical is a biotechnology company based in Seattle, WA
that develops biomimetic technologies to enhance cell-based assays and
accelerate drug development. NanoSurface was founded in 2015. www.nanosurfacebio.com

https://www.nanosurfacebio.com/

Contacts

NanoSurface Biomedical
Heejoon Choi, 800-913-4403 x 702
[email protected]