Charles River partners with CRO to expand PDX model capabilities

21-May-2017 - Last updated on 22-May-2017 at 16:12 GMT

Charles River has expanded its oncology discovery business. (Image: iStock/unoL)

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. has partnered with OcellO to expand its PDX model capabilities and has made several additions to its online Tumor Model Compendium.

OcellO is a contract research organization (CRO) that offers drug screening and profiling services using 3D cell culture models of disease.

Through its partnership with Charles River, OcellO will use human tumor material from Charles River PDX models and apply it to the 3D cell culture drug screening platform.

Additionally, with the latest update to the Tumor Model Compendium, Charles River has added additional molecular properties to its existing catalog of models.

It has also added new cell lines and models to include more than 450 patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models, 19 syngeneic and genetically engineered mouse tumor models (GEMM), cell line-derived xenograft (CDX) models, and cell line (CL) models.

“In terms of the drug development process, the addition of these characteristics will allow oncology researchers to more closely specify the type of tumor model needed for their research,” Birgit Girshick, corporate senior vice president, Global Discovery Services at Charles River Laboratories told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.

“Researchers will be able to review genomic (DNA & RNA), histological and phenotypic data such as growth and drug sensitivity curves that will allow them to select models of interest to them due to mutational status, presence or absence of drug target etc.,” she explained.

Responding to market trends

Girshick explained the company is always looking to the needs of clients to help drive business updates.

“We’ve seen an increased focus on immuno-oncology in cancer research, and with it there has been a rise of the use of patient-derived tumors in humanized models,” she explained. “PDX tumors can be targeted as mentioned above, but tested in this more relevant system.”

Additionally, Girshick said syngeneic models are still “a workhorse tool for immuno-oncology programs” and there has been a “massive demand” for genomic characterization.

In April of this year, the early-stage CRO also announced its first CRISPR-generated immunodeficient model.