A beating Heart-on-Chip for pre-clinical early detection of drugs cardiac safety

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The cost to develop new drugs is huge, mainly due to the failure rate in the drug discovery process. Current in vitro models are too simplistic, owing to limited prediction of systemic side-effects of molecules, e.g. cardiotoxicity. On the other hand, in vivo models, far more complex, provide responses to drugs often different from those found in humans. Furthermore, recent legislation about 3R principle (i.e. Directive 2010/63/EU) is encouraging Pharma industry towards the search for methods alternative to animal testing. In this scenario, the demand for innovative in vitro tools able to predict cardiotoxicity already in the pre-clinical phase is urgent. To address this need BiomimX is developing uHeart. uHeart is a miniaturized model of human heart, responding to drugs likewise the natural heart. Our patented technologies allow the generation of fully-mature cardiac tissues, providing 3D cardiac cells with a mechanical training resembling the heart beating. uHeart is the only tool currently available featuring such a high level of specificity in replicating heart responses, and thanks to its micrometer scale it comes with a huge saving in terms of costs and analysis time. BiomimX is currently validating uHeart as a predictor of cardiac drug safety in early stages of the pre-clinical phase. BiomimX targets the market of Pharma and CRO that will use uHeart as innovative tool to screen the cardiotoxicity of putative new molecules, saving time and money for drug development. Thanks to this innovation project, BiomimX will complete both technical and freedom to operate analyses for uHeart. In the meanwhile, a roll-out phase will be carried out with ten potential customers. At the end of Phase I, uHeart is expected to reach a TRL7. A refined business plan will allow BiomimX to negotiate a round A investment, estimated around 2.5M€, pivotal to launch uHeart on the market of Pharma within the next three years.