Intero Biosystems Offers Lab-Grown Human Intestines as Animal Testing Alternative
Intero Biosystems is positioning its lab-grown human intestines as a practical alternative for pharmaceutical companies seeking to reduce animal testing. The startup produces miniature human intestinal tissues, known as organoids, which can be used to evaluate how drug candidates behave in human digestive tissue before advancing to clinical trials.
Organoid technology involves growing clusters of human cells that mimic the structure and function of real organs. In this case, Intero's intestinal models provide a platform for studying drug absorption, metabolism, and potential toxicity directly on human tissue. This approach addresses a longstanding limitation of animal testing: results often fail to translate accurately to human physiology, contributing to high clinical trial failure rates.
The company is working to scale up production to meet demand from drugmakers. As regulators increasingly encourage alternatives to animal models, startups like Intero Biosystems are emerging to fill that gap with laboratory-cultivated human tissues.
The organoid market has been expanding as the technology matures and becomes more commercially viable. By offering human-relevant testing platforms, these companies aim to support both drug development efficiency and the broader push toward more ethical research practices.