Draper Signs Collaboration Agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb

CAMBRIDGE, MA—A new development partnership could lead to better and safer drugs for patients. Draper has entered into a tissue model development agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY). The two companies will work together to develop a unique liver tissue model for screening the toxicity of drugs.

In the collaboration, Draper will use its Human Organ Systems (HOS) platform—a microenvironment that can sustain human tissue organ models for several weeks of automated testing. Draper will array 96 independent single organ models in the high-throughput package in a version of its HOS platform named PREDICT-96.

“The aim of our HOS microenvironment is to recapitulate human tissues, allowing researchers to measure tissue function more accurately and more quickly than in traditional preclinical models,” said Joseph L. Charest, Ph.D. Charest is head of HOS and in vitro model systems at Draper where he helps customers build artificial organ systems to test and refine new drugs.

Draper designed its scalable HOS platform, more commonly described as “organ-on-chip technology,” so that researchers can test varied dosages of drugs simultaneously. PREDICT-96 is equipped with 192 microfluidic pumps that control flow precisely. The platform features built-in electrical sensors to enable researchers to collect in vitro data in real time, and a 96-well design that can be easily integrated into existing lab automation and screening tools.

Using its platform, Draper will generate a unique liver model for Bristol-Myers Squibb to perform toxicity testing. The model could have the potential to study progression of liver diseases and to evaluate candidate therapeutics.

Draper’s HOS platform was developed by Draper’s Biomedical Solutions business, which is comprised of three areas: Human Organ Systems, Precision Medicine and Biomedical Devices.

PREDICT-96 is currently being used by Draper and its partners to develop and validate individual tissue models of gut, intestine, lung, liver, vasculature, kidney, blood brain barrier, tumor and gingival tissue and to evaluate immune-oncology approaches.