NIH/NCATS and InSphero Host Inaugural 3D Tumor Model Standards Working Group at AACR 2017

SCHLIEREN, SWITZERLAND--(Marketwired - April 18, 2017) - The inaugural meeting of the 3D Standards Working Group was held during the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, on Saturday, April 1. Organized and hosted by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), part of the National Institutes of Health, and InSphero AG, the meeting drew representatives from academic institutions, pharmaceutical and life sciences industries, as well as government agencies, to discuss the use of 3D cancer models within drug discovery campaigns, and review biological and technical requirements needed for the next-generation of high-throughput screening-compatible (HTS) models.

"There is a growing need for in vitro 3D tumor models that mimic in vivo tumor physiology for more efficient cancer drug discovery," says InSphero Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Patrick Guye. "We sought to bring together key opinion leaders in academia, industry and government to develop guidelines that we believe are critical to establish 3D tumor models as a highly predictive platform for therapeutic drug development assays." The group plans to publish its findings and recommendations for developing and using 3D tumor models for drug development, with the intent to make the best consensus information available to the broader research community.

"We made tremendous progress during this kickoff meeting," says Dr. Madhu Lal Nag, Head of the Trans NIH RNAi Facility at NCATS. "We not only discussed where we stand today with regard to developing advanced 3D models that capture the complexity of the tumor microenvironment, but also delved into needs for standardized nomenclature, benchmarking, improved model predictivity, and multiparametric readouts." Going forward, the group plans to meet quarterly by teleconference and in person during future conferences, such as AACR, which most members of the working group attend.

For more information about NCATS, visit https://ncats.nih.gov.

For more information about InSphero, visit www.insphero.com.

About InSphero

InSphero sets the standard for in vitro testing of novel drugs in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry with comprehensive solutions that provide greater confidence in decision making. Its robust and highly physiologically relevant suite of 3D InSighttm Microtissues and Services are used by major pharmaceutical companies worldwide to increase efficiency in drug discovery and safety testing. InSphero patent-pending technologies and methods enable large-scale, reproducible production of scaffold-free 3D microtissues (spheroids) driven solely by cellular self-assembly. The company specializes in delivering assay-ready and custom 3D models derived from liver, pancreas, and tumor tissues, to provide unrivalled biological insight into liver toxicology, metabolic diseases (e.g., diabetes and liver diseases), and oncology (with a focus on immuno-oncology). All InSphero microtissues are thoroughly validated to ensure the highest quality, certified for use in a variety of assays, and shipped globally to customers in a patented, easy-to-use spheroid-optimized platform, ready for research. Field application scientists and research staff with expertise in working with 3D models help ensure efficient integration and onsite training as needed. For customers who prefer an outsourcing strategy with fast turnaround, InSphero also offers contract research services utilizing their 3D microtissue models.

InSphero 3D InSighttm solutions drive significant findings in peer-reviewed journals, through collaborative industry initiatives such as EU-ToxRisk and HeCaToS, and have gained validation in the world's largest government institutions and pharmaceutical, chemical and cosmetics companies.

Founded in 2009, the privately held company is headquartered in Switzerland, with subsidiaries in the United States and Germany. It has been recognized for its scientific and commercial achievements with several national and international awards.

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