Crown Bioscience Launches ‘3D Ex Vivo Patient Tissue Platform’ to Improve Response Predictability to Immuno-Oncology Drug Candidates

Platform combining phenotypic high content imaging analysis and three-dimensional models of fresh patient tumors to provide relevant analysis of drug responses that can inform candidate selection and clinical program design

SUNNYVALE, California, October 7, 2021 – Crown Bioscience, a JSR Life Sciences company and leader in translational services that help biopharmaceutical companies accelerate new drug development programs, today announced the launch of its ‘3D Ex Vivo Patient Tissue Platform.’ Using freshly collected patient tumor material, this new service can accurately measure oncology and immuno-oncology drug-induced tumor killing and endogenous immune cell proliferation in a high throughput format. Researchers are presenting data on the new platform at this year’s AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, which is happening virtually on October 7-10, 2021.

The proprietary technology, developed at Crown Bioscience’s recently acquired site in Leiden, The Netherlands (formerly known as OcellO B.V.), aims to improve clinical success rates by using the most patient-relevant tumor samples to better predict tumor response to potential drug candidates.

“Our goal is to leverage our core technologies to build a translational model system that adequately captures the tumor architecture and microenvironment, and improves the predictability of patient responses to treatment protocols for existing and potential therapeutic candidates,” said Leo Price, PhD, Senior Vice President, In Vitro. “We believe this approach provides greater translational relevance in drug development by using immuno-competent primary human tumor tissue to help analyze drug candidate responses before the program enters clinical trial. This approach is an optimal fit with our mission to help deliver the right drug to the right patient at the right time.”

The ‘3D Ex Vivo Patient Tissue Platform’ utilizes patient tumor tissue isolated from biopsies, surgical resections, ascites, or pleural effusion samples that are processed within 24 hours to preserve the tumor microenvironment. The automated high throughput platform uses high content 3D imaging and image analysis to quantify distinct responses of individual cell populations in fresh patient tissues. These analyses can assess responses to different doses of therapeutic candidates at various timepoints and can determine the effects of the drug or combination of drugs on tumor killing and immune cell proliferation.

“We believe this new service can help fill a critical gap in today’s research landscape with early translational patient-relevant ex vivo models that can assess efficacy and determine mechanisms of action,” commented Armin Spura, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Crown Bioscience. “This new service offering is designed to help mitigate the high failure rates of clinical programs in oncology, and was one of the objectives coming out of our recent OcellO acquisition. We are delighted to provide immediate value to our customers from this investment and look forward to the future value that this acquisition will bring.”

AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics

Researchers from CrownBio are conducting a poster presentation titled, “Novel Near Vivo Drug Response Platform for Oncology using 3D Ex Vivo Patient-Derived Microtumors” at the annual conference. The poster summarizes:

• This 3D high content assay on ex vivo patient tumor material preserves native tumor microenvironement and architecture
• Ex vivo testing using ultra fresh patient tumor samples maintains intact endogenous immune cell populations
• Ongoing clinical trial collaborations with tissue providers for ovarian cancer, bladder cancer, NSCLC, and other tumor samples

For more information on Crown Bioscience’s 3D Ex Vivo Patient Tissue Platform, visit Crown Bioscience's webpage on the new service.

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About Crown Bioscience

Crown Bioscience, a JSR Life Sciences company, is a global drug discovery and development services company providing translational platforms to advance oncology, immuno-oncology, and immune mediated inflammatory disease research. With an extensive portfolio of relevant models and predictive tools, Crown Bioscience enables clients to deliver superior clinical candidates. For more information, visit: www.crownbio.com