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Module II
Established CIVM/MPS (Organ-Specific Sessions)

CIVM designed to recapitulate organs most frequently impacted by off-target toxicity, such as liver and GI, and therapeutic targets that are difficult to model in vitro, such as lung, have received the greatest attention for their potential to improve clinical translatability. This module will provide a detailed overview of those CIVM models with which the field has the most experience. Each session will focus on a different organ system and utilize case studies to illustrate how pharmaceutical end users are applying these models for internal decision-making and the unique considerations and challenges for qualifying these models for each context of use.

Aaron Fullerton leads the Investigative Toxicology laboratory within Safety Assessment at Genentech which is focused on the use of in-vitro models to support candidate selection and pre-clinical safety evaluation of a wide variety of therapeutic modalities in the Genentech portfolio.  CIVM and MPS approaches comprise a major component of these tools leveraged alongside traditional in-vitro models to provide comprehensive understanding of safety liabilities, mechanisms of drug toxicity and translatability of safety findings from in-vivo pre-clinical animal studies.

Liver

This session will cover the functional readouts and reference ranges for key liver complex in vitro model parameters. We will introduce relevant COUs and highlight liver MPS model characterization and proof-of-concept data for DMPK and safety testing. Additionally, the value of liver MPS in replicating species-specific toxicity that was not reproducible using traditional in vitro systems (i.e., 2D plated hepatocytes) will be discussed.

Date / Time

Thursday, October 3, 2024, 10:30 AM ET - 12:30 PM ET

John Gleeson is an Associate Principal Scientist in Merck’s Pharmaceutical Science and Clinical Supply division. John joined Merck in 2020 after completing his PhD (UCD; Ireland) and Postdoctoral research (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; CA and Carnegie Mellon University: PA). He supports the pre-clinical to clinical formulation development of oral programs and de-risks clinical bioperformance issues. John leads the development of clinically predictive intestinal absorption models using conventional and complex in vitro models.

GI (Part I)

This session will cover the functional readouts and reference ranges for key liver complex in vitro model parameters. We will introduce relevant COUs and highlight liver MPS model characterization and proof-of-concept data for DMPK and safety testing. Additionally, the value of liver MPS in replicating species-specific toxicity that was not reproducible using traditional in vitro systems (i.e., 2D plated hepatocytes) will be discussed.

Date / Time

Thursday, October 31, 2024, 10:30 AM ET - 12:00 PM ET

Abhinav joined AbbVie in 2020 after receiving a PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering at University of Massachusetts Amherst where he developed in vitro models of human gut to study host-microbe interactions. In the current role he is leading efforts to establish MPS models of multiple organ systems for programs within AbbVie’s drug discovery and development pipeline.

GI (Part II)

This session will provide an overview of complex in vitro models specific to the Gastrointestinal tract and how they are being employed for ADME and leveraged for evaluation of alternative therapeutic modalities (T-cell therapy). Speakers will present on three case studies: 1) predicting absorption and intestinal first-pass elimination, 2) modeling oral phosphate prodrug bioconversion, and 3) safety evaluation of T cell-based therapies.

Date / Time

Thursday, November 14, 2024, 10:30 AM ET - 12:00 PM ET

Tomomi (Tomo) Kiyota is conducting hypothesis-driven investigation to de-risk safety concerns of various modalities. Tomo is currently covering a variety of areas in toxicology including, but not limited to, nephrotoxicity, gastrointestinal toxicity, skin toxicity, neurotoxicity, mitochondrial toxicity and hepatotoxicity. Tomo received PhD degree from Kwansei Gakuin University and completed postdoctoral trainings at Florida State University and University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Kidney

This session aims to provide points of view for assessment of kidney function highlighting available complex in vitro models covering contexts of use for safety and ADME properties. Case studies demonstrating nephrotoxicity assessment using microfluidic device-based and immune-competent kidney models will be presented. Additionally, the CIVM landscape for Kidney will be discussed to address gaps remaining in modeling renal physiology.

Date / Time

Tuesday, December 3, 2024, 10:30 AM ET - 12:00 PM ET

Ratnakar Potla is a physician scientist by training. He is currently a principal scientist in the Complex in vitro systems group within Genentech Research and early development (gRED) where he leads the lung team within Safety assessment. He supports the safety assessment of candidate molecules using complex in vitro systems like organ on chips and organoids using multiple commercially available and in house fabricated platforms.

Lung

This session provides a comprehensive overview of the complex in vitro models (CIVMs) commonly employed by lung safety teams in the drug development process. Participants will gain a thorough understanding of the functional characterization of these models and how they are rigorously qualified for use through testing with tool compounds known to exhibit lung safety liabilities.
Through real-world case studies, we will explore different contexts of use, specifically focusing on the decision-making process for choosing between transwell, organoid and organ-chip models. This will include in-depth discussions on the critical role of cell sourcing and characterization in establishing trust and confidence in these models.

Date / Time

Tuesday, December 10, 2024, 10:30 AM ET - 12:00 PM ET

Cardiovascular

Coming soon.

Date / Time

To Be Announced

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