Promising cooperation between medac and chiron

Wedel, Germany (08/11/24) - Testing new substances in animals is a regulatory cornerstone of drug development. At the same time, the development of animal free testing methods is progressing. In this context the pharmaceutical company medac and the start-up chiron biotechnology are working together on the further development and establishment of animal free testing methods for the pharmaceutical industry.

Animal testing still has a role for medical research and the development of therapies. Due to legal requirements animal testing is an obligatory part of pharmaceutical development and drug approval. Nevertheless, ethical aspects of animal testing as well as the question of their replacement through other testing methods are being discussed and challenged continuously.

The global pharmaceutical company medac located in Wedel and the Dutch start-up chiron biotechnology are working together for the further development and establishment of animal free testing methods for the pharmaceutical industry.

chiron has developed an advanced organ-on chip technology, which comprises placing of human cells on chips - eg. cells present in the joint- to test the efficacy of drugs. This ground-breaking technology has the potential to be a future alternative to animal testing in drug development.

The cooperation with medac includes testing if methotrexate – the gold standard for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis- which could be used as a reference substance on the chips containing joint cells and to demonstrate the applicability of the method. As a reference substance Methotrexate should always show an effect under certain test conditions.  Methotrexate would then serve as a reference for efficacy when new drugs are analysed. medac negotiated a master service agreement with chiron and provides methotrexate for further development of chiron’s technology.

Florian Ende, Head of Product Development at medac, commented on this cooperation: “With this cooperation medac makes an important contribution to the development and establishment of new approach methods (NAMs), which can be used for analysis of drug efficacy using human cells instead of performing animal studies

The cooperation between medac and chiron presents a meaningful step towards a forward-looking development of alternative methods for animal free drug development.

About chiron

chiron is an organ-on-chip (OoC) company possessing patent-protected technology for the mechanical stimulation of human cells, leveraged to develop an in-vitro model to study rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. chiron possesses a competitive advantage as the only OoC company able to provide mechanical stimulation while simultaneously monitoring cells under a microscope, offering access to extremely important information for drug development, cell therapies, as well as scientific discovery. Based on these unique features, chiron’s first product line is focused on recreating the human joint, specifically the knee. chiron’s cartilage-on-chip and synovial-membrane-on-chip devices are the cutting edge of translational models for rheumatoid and osteoarthritis.