Daewoong Pharmaceutical(069620) introduces a technology for "liver Organoid" that replicates human liver function and will use it for nonclinical toxicity assessment of drug candidates. The move is aimed at responding to the trend led by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reduce animal testing and expand alternative test methods.
Daewoong Pharmaceutical said on the 15th that it signed a transfer contract with the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB) for "liver Organoid fabrication and drug evaluation technology."
A liver Organoid is a three-dimensional tissue cultured from stem cells and other cells to replicate human liver function. It is used to assess the liver toxicity of drug candidates at the nonclinical stage.
The technology introduced by Daewoong Pharmaceutical is the "three-dimensional human liver Organoid fabrication and toxicity assessment platform" developed by the research team of Dr. Son Myeong-jin at KRIBB. The company expects to evaluate drug toxicity more precisely by implementing a structure more similar to human liver tissue than existing two-dimensional hepatocytes.
It also said the function is maintained even after long-term culture and freeze-thaw cycles, allowing use in repeated experiments.
This technology is currently under review in an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) test guideline development project and a new International Organization for Standardization (ISO) international standard project.
Daewoong Pharmaceutical plans to apply this technology to the nonclinical evaluation of drug candidates to identify liver toxicity early and improve research and development efficiency.