COMMERCIALISATION CORNER
Utilising the 3D Aspects of Micro Array Technologies
MEMS and nano technology based micro arrays have moved from being pushed onto the
pharmaceutical research and development marketplace just a few short years ago to
becoming a mainstay for industry. In the early days of micro fluidics technologies many firms
employing small technologies to provide value to the pharmaceutical industry simply tried to take traditional pharmaceutical-based testing and
developing procedures and duplicate them and in the process make them much better, much faster
and much cheaper. The substitution of a superior MEMS-based technique eventually, and some would say inevitably replaced the traditional technologies.
These early MEMS pioneers made products to help reduce the cost of drug development in the pharmaceutical industry. Then, as now, more than 75% of new drugs failed during development. Further, these new drugs fail after over 80% of the development costs have been incurred. The pharmaceutical industry would like to closely emulate the dictum: “Fail fat and fail cheap” but it lacks the technology to select favourable compounds earlier with confidence. With the average cost of drug development at $1 billion (The Pharmaceutical Landscape; one of the series of MANCEF Roadmaps), early indication of drug failure is critical to this process.
Yet the currently available models for testing drugs are mostly two-dimensional cell culture and laboratory animals. They have proven themselves poor predictors of compound behaviour in man. Demonstrably better predictors are cell culture models based on three dimensional (3D) cultures. Unfortunately, 3D cultures are still complicated to use, expensive and lacking versatility, hampering their widespread application. The next generation of small technology based micro array devices holds great promise to change this.
DR. PAUL VULTOIS THE PRESIDENT AND CO-FOUNDER OF MIMETAS AND MEMBER OF MANCEF
JOS JOORE IS THE CO-FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF MIMETAS
DR. STEVEN WALSH IS DISTINGUISHED AND REGENTS PROFESSOR AT UNM, INSTITUTE
PROFESSOR OF ENTREPRENEURIAL RENEWAL OF INDUSTRY, UNIVERSITY OF TWENTE, PAST PRESIDENT OF MANCEF
Today the next generation of micro titer, micro array and other micro fluidics and nano fluidics manufacturers are again moving the industry forward. These firms are increasingly using the three- dimensional (3D) properties of their technologies for bio and pharmaceutical applications. These firms are using passive fluidics techniques to derive a variety of new technology product platforms. These 3D array technologies are responding to one of the drivers of the pharmaceutical industry growth, the movement towards personalized medicine.
These
miniaturised organ models have better
predictability compared to laboratory animals and
conventional cell culture models and is derived by utilizing the three dimensional
effects of their micro fluidics based
technologies.
Today’s full embrace of the 3D aspects of micro fluidics combined with nano coatings and other technologies are allowing the current leading technology based firms to portend the next generation devices. One of these these leading firms, MIMETAS, is utilising the 3D aspects of its device platforms to develop ‘organ-on-a-chip’ technology for testing of new medicines. These miniaturised organ models have better predictability compared to laboratory animals and conventional cell culture models and are derived by utilising the three dimensional effects of their micro fluidics based technologies. Below we provide a discussion of one firm’s effort to improve micro titer arrays technology through
fully utilising its 3D capabilities — the product platform is called MIMETAS OrganoPlates.
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47 | commercial micro manufacturing international Vol 7 No.4
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