Could this Australian start-up help phase out lab testing on animals?
An Australian start-up is using AI to power a game-changing approach to testing new drug treatments that, if successful, could save both human and animal lives. Find out how it works
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A Brisbane AI start-up company has partnered with tech giant Google in hopes of ending the need for animal testing* in the drug development industry.
Queensland-based biotech* company Gelomics is using AI to help grow human tissues* that could one day replace the mice and cell cultures that are currently used to test out new medicines.
It says its system more accurately predicts how real patients will respond, potentially saving lives, money and hundreds of millions of animals.
The company is aiming to improve the development of medicines by using AI to assist pharmaceutical* companies in growing human tissues that “look, behave, and react to drug treatment just like real human organs”.
Co-founder and CEO of Gelomics, Dr Christoph Meinert, said that “drug discovery and drug development are still heavily reliant on cell and animal experimentation”.
“Last year alone, close to 200 million animals were euthanised* for research purposes, and around a hundred million or so cell culture experiments were performed,” he said.
“Yet, despite this massive effort, over 90 per cent of drug candidates that pass successfully through these testings will fail when they’re tested in human clinical trials.”
“The failure of every single drug candidate causes losses that exceed US$1.3 billion (A$2 billion). And the total loss in the industry exceeds US$100 billion (A$153 billion) every single year.”
Dr Meinert said biologists have a running joke that “every disease is curable in mice” since most drugs that are successful in the animal testing phase will fail when they go on to be tested on humans.
“The problem is that models are relying on animal physiology, which has fundamental differences in the biology of animals compared to humans; they (animals) process drugs differently, the toxicity* profiles are different, and also the efficacy* testing is completely different,” he said.
“So the correlation* between testing results you receive from animal trials and animal experiments to actual human results is very, very little.”
Dr Meinert said in oncology* or cancer treatment, the correlation was less than five per cent, and in some other indications, such as Alzheimer’s*, it was less than one per cent.
“That means that less than one per cent of drugs that are successfully tested in animal experiments achieve efficacy or a low level of toxicity in human trials. It’s a shocking number.”
Gelomics has just partnered with Google to complete the 10-week accelerator program, through which they were able to build a fully operational end-to-end program.
By the end of the program, which partners AI start-ups with Google resources and mentors, Gelomics recorded 90 per cent predictive accuracy in the key parameters, and 60 per cent faster data analysis.
The program functions over four models: literature review, design, execution and analytics.
“One of the slowest parts of the entire process is researching what’s already been done here,” said Gelomics CTO Pawal Mieszczanek.
“The platform does this instantly for you. A researcher can simply enter a question and the system automatically summarises the latest scientific literature. Our operating papers give insights to the scientists before designing their experiments.
“In the design and execution module, the module guides the user through its entire process from tissue selection all the way to the parameter optimisation*. The user can simply select the tissue type they want to grow, and our platform will optimise all the processing parameters for them in the background.
“Finally, their analytics module here, the experimental data can be analysed all in one place. Researchers can simply select the analysis they want to run, and the system generates clean visual insights for them.”
Genetics PhD student at the University of Otago, Emily Morice said that drug failure can be due to many different factors, not just because of the different ways animals process chemicals.
“Failures often result from things like early-stage design (what the hypothesis is based on), use of models, and then during trials, things like dosing, pharmacokinetics*, differences between patients (men versus women, under-represented groups and minorities), and then commercial issues like competition and market viability*,” she said.
“It’s not that only one per cent of animal data ever predicts human outcomes; it represents a variety of factors over drug development as a whole.”
Despite Gelomics’ promise, Ms Morice said the bottom line wasn’t as simple as “animal versus non-animal” testing.
“It’s using animal models selectively where our current technology lacks, and bolstering* those studies with human-relevant models, each will contribute to our understanding of drug development. Companies like Gelomics, developing 3D systems, are important, but it’s important we use these findings in combination with other advances and not as a total solution,” she said.
POLL
GLOSSARY
- animal testing: when drug companies test new drugs they are developing on animals, often mice or rats, to see if they are safe and they work. If they are deemed successful, the drugs can then be tested on humans
- biotech: technology or industrial processes that use living things like cells or bacteria
- tissues: group of connected cells in an animal or plant that are similar to each other, have the same purpose, and form the stated part of the animal or plant.
- pharmaceutical: related to the production of medical substances
- euthanised: killed in a humane way
- toxicity: the degree to which a chemical substance can harm an organism
- efficacy: the ability to produce a desired result
- correlation: relationship
- oncology: the study and treatment of tumours
- Alzheimer’s: a form of dementia that affects memory, thinking and behaviour
- parameter optimisation: making the rules and restrictions around the creation of what is needed as accurate as possible
- pharmacokinetics: the study of movement of drugs within the body
- market viability: how likely it is that a drug will be adopted by its intended users
- bolstering: strengthening and supporting
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QUICK QUIZ
1. How many animals were euthanised last year for research purposes?
2. What is Gelomics trying to do in order to change the way drugs are tested?
3. How is AI involved?
4. What percentage of drug candidates that pass animal testing go on to fail human trials?
5. Why do such a small percentage of drugs that pass animal testing go on to pass human testing?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. What are the rules?
What do you think the rules are for safe human clinical trials of drugs? Brainstorm your ideas. Then, use your research skills to check your ideas.
Time: allow at least 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, Science
2. Extension
How is AI being used to help grow human tissues? Use information in the story to design a flow chart that will help another student understand the process.
Time: allow at least 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links English, Design and Technologies, Science
VCOP ACTIVITY
Wow word recycle
There are plenty of wow words (ambitious pieces of vocabulary) being used in the article. Some are in the glossary, but there might be extra ones from the article that you think are exceptional as well.
Identify all the words in the article that you think are not common words, and particularly good choices for the writer to have chosen.
Select three words you have highlighted to recycle into your own sentences.
If any of the words you identified are not in the glossary, write up your own glossary for them.
Extension
Find a bland sentence from the article to up-level. Can you add more detail and description? Can you replace any base words with more specific synonyms?
Down-level for a younger audience. Find a sentence in the article that is high level. Now rewrite it for a younger audience so they can understand the words without using the glossary.