BioCentury
ARTICLE | Product R&D

Spheres of influence

Genentech and AstraZeneca team up on preclinical liver toxicity

July 27, 2017 9:49 PM UTC

AstraZeneca plc and Genentech Inc. have joined forces to test whether a liver spheroid system can improve upon the gold standard for preclinical prediction of hepatotoxicity. The goal is to raise the bar on preventing compounds from reaching the clinic that end up causing drug-induced liver injury -- a major source of drug attrition, black box warnings and post-marketing removal.

In a paper published last month in Archives of Toxicology, scientists from the two companies showed that liver spheroids produced by InSphero AG produced a fourfold better prediction of toxicity at the lowest drug concentration than 2-D cultured primary human hepatocytes when tested against 110 marketed compounds. ...