One of the principal reasons to suspend ongoing research on new therapies is their cardiotoxicity. Regulations require that novel, and promising therapeutic molecules shall be subjected to the rigoristic toxicity tests using traditional methods in vitro and referential animal models. Those tests, however, do not reflect the reaction of human organism on drugs fully; also, they do not allow on detection of many potentially cardiotoxic substances. Direct application of drugs onto human cardiomyocytes, on the one hand, limits the use of lab animals; on the other – it creates a unique opportunity to select and test proper medications correcting particular cardiomyocytes defects. Directly-applied drugs are, therefore, the base of personalized medicine.
Moreover, Acellmed is developing a technology of “the heart-on-the chip,” based on the use of miniaturized micro-circulation systems which will allow on investigating the interaction between different heart cell types, and in the future – also of other organs.