CN Bio Awarded £180K Innovate UK Grant to Develop Human-Relevant Alternative to Animal Pharmacokinetic Studies
核心洞察
CN Bio (搜索) has received £180,000 in grant funding from Innovate UK (搜索), delivered in partnership with the NC3Rs (搜索), to develop new approach methodologies for drug development.
The project aims to create a standardized workflow integrating multi-organ microphysiological systems with PBPK modeling to replace animal-based pharmacokinetic studies.
The initiative aligns with the UK Government's roadmap to reduce dog and non-human primate use in dedicated PK studies by 35% by 2030.
CN Bio (搜索), a Cambridge-based leader in Organ-on-a-chip (OOC) systems, announced today it has been awarded £180,000 in grant funding from Innovate UK (搜索) to develop a standardized, human-relevant alternative to animal-based pharmacokinetic (PK) studies. Delivered in partnership with the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs (搜索)), the funding supports new approach methodologies (NAMs) aligned with the UK Government's roadmap to reduce dog and non-human primate (NHP) use in dedicated PK studies by 35% by 2030.
The project will focus on integrating data generated using CN Bio (搜索)'s advanced human multi-organ microphysiological systems (MPS) with physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models, providing a more practical and translatable alternative to traditional animal studies.
Addressing a Critical Gap in Drug Development
Despite significant advances in NAMs, including laboratory and in silico methods, predicting drug behavior in humans remains a persistent challenge. The pharmaceutical industry continues to rely heavily on animal studies to generate PK data on compound absorption, clearance, and systemic exposure. These studies, often conducted in dogs and non-human primates, are costly, low throughput, and offer poor translatability to human outcomes.
CN Bio (搜索)'s portfolio of bioengineered MPS recreates key aspects of human tissue biology, delivering decision-ready insights across drug safety, efficacy, and PK analyses. The company's standardized discovery and development workflows aim to de-risk pipelines with earlier, more confident decision-making, helping to reduce reliance on animal testing in pharmaceutical research.
Building on the PhysioMimix® Gut/Liver Platform
The Innovate UK (搜索)-funded project will explore the development and validation of a standardized workflow for human-relevant PK studies, building on CN Bio (搜索)'s established dual-organ PhysioMimix® Gut/Liver MPS. Mechanistic data generated within the MPS will be used to derive a range of PK parameters, which will then be integrated with powerful in silico PBPK modeling. This integration enables researchers to generate mechanistic PK insights and translate them into clinically interpretable predictions within a single workflow.
To further improve predictive capabilities, the project will include a feasibility study to incorporate a kidney model into CN Bio (搜索)'s MPS platform, enabling estimation of renal clearance and other excretion-related processes. In parallel, the practicality and impact of introducing liquid handling automation will be explored to improve throughput, reproducibility, and suitability for routine use. As part of implementing this workflow, the company will partner with contract research organizations to define the technical and operational requirements for adoption.
Expert Commentary
Dr. Yassen Abbas, Biology Group Leader at CN Bio (搜索), commented: "We're proud to have been selected for this project by Innovate UK (搜索), an exciting opportunity to advance the UK Government target to reduce dedicated PK studies using dogs or non-human primates by 35%. Understanding pharmacokinetics is crucial to determining a drug candidate's efficacy and potential side effects, and this project represents a valuable new route to unlock earlier, human-relevant insights into drug disposition – ultimately supporting faster, more effective drug development."
The initiative forms part of broader UK Government efforts, outlined in its November 2025 roadmap, to phase out animal testing through the accelerated adoption of alternative methods, reinforcing the country's commitment to more ethical and scientifically robust drug development practices.