A recent study by researchers from REPROCELL found that IBD patients display different drug absorption profiles to healthy individuals. This is the first time that drug absorption has been estimated using inflamed GI tissue from this patient group. A similar study, performed by Keio University, estimated drug absorption in healthy areas of GI tissue from ulcerative colitis (UC) donors.
“We are proud to be pioneers of this highly translational experimental model,” says Michael Finch, Study Director REPROCELL “Being able to estimate test article permeability in human tissue ensures accurate estimation of drug efficacy in humans and reduces the risk of clinical failure.”
The REPROCELL study used fresh human GI tissue from one healthy donor and two donors with UC. Biopsies from the intestinal tissues were mounted in an Ussing Chamber, and then used to estimate the absorption profile of three drugs. One of the UC donors showed increased absorption to all three drugs, while the other displayed a decreased drug absorption profile. This may explain why some patients respond well to drugs used to treat UC, and others do not.
“We need to repeat this work to confirm our findings, but results from the initial pilot study are interesting” said Head of R&D, Graeme Macluskie. “These results may explain why some UC patients do not respond to commonly prescribed treatments.”
REPROCELL’s IBD permeability studies are available today; for more information on the company’s predictive drug discovery studies you can visit their website.
Above: Study Director Michael Finch working in REPROCELL’s largest human tissue laboratory, based in Glasgow.