09 March 2016 – InvitroCue Pte Ltd (“IVQ” Singapore), together with London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (London), recently signed an Agreement under which they started a collaboration using 3D in vitro technologies to establish leishmania spp. infection in vitro models. These technologies, when integrated, could offer a novel model for the in vitro screening of experimental drug compounds for anti-leishmanial activity.
Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by leishmania, a parasite which is transmitted to human through sand fly bites. Leishmaniasis affects people living in Asia, Africa, America and Europe manifesting as visceral (300,000 cases annually and 20,000 deaths), cutaneous (one million cases reported in the last five years) or mucocutaneous leishmaniasis. Over 300 million people in developing countries are at risk of leishmaniasis.
“We hope that our 3D in vitro model can increase the rates of infection and maintain the parasites in vitro as amastigotes (disease-producing organism in human), therefore presenting a in vivo like infectious condition helping us derive important information on the experimental drug efficacy in the parasite natural host-environment”, said Dr. Abhishek Ananthanarayanan, Director of Scientific Development of IVQ.
The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is a world-leading institute in the development of new drugs to treat leishmaniasis.
Professor Simon Croft, Principal Investigator from the London School of Hygine & Tropical Medicine, said: “We are investigating novel models that are more predictive of drug efficacy to support the development of new drugs for the treatment of leishmaniasis and also reduce the number of animals used in the process”
About InvitroCue
InvitroCue provides innovative products and services in the fields of in-vitro DMPK, in-vitro toxicology and digital pathology utilizing cell-based models and image analytics. InvitroCue’s technologies have been developed and validated together with leading pharmaceutical companies and scientific collaborators. The company uses in-vitro technologies and assays to support better decision-making in preclinical drug studies and clinical research. Headquartered in Singapore and was spun out of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), InvitroCue currently operates in Singapore and China. www.invitrocue.com
InvitroCue is listed on Australian Stock Exchange under ASX code “IVQ”.
About London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is a world-leading centre for research and postgraduate education in public and global health, with more than 4,000 students and 1,000 staff working in over 100 countries. The School is one of the highest-rated research institutions in the UK, and among the world’s leading schools in public and global health. Our mission is to improve health and health equity in the UK and worldwide; working in partnership to achieve excellence in public and global health research, education and translation of knowledge into policy and practice. www.lshtm.ac.uk
For more information, please contact:
InvitroCue Limited
Yip Ai San, VP Corporate Development
11 Biopolis Way, Helios
#12-07/08
Singapore 138667
yas@invitrocue.com
@InvitroCue
AND
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Jenny Orton, Media Manager
Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT
United Kingdom
press@lshtm.ac.uk
http://www.lshtm.ac.uk
@LSHTMpress