Marcelo Ribeiro, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of River BioMedics, provides an in-depth overview of the company's innovative approach to drug discovery, particularly in the field of cardiovascular diseases. River BioMedics focuses on developing small molecules targeting specific proteins involved in heart failure, using advanced 3D cardiac models to validate these targets before progressing to animal or human trials 1.
Marcelo highlights the significant unmet need in treating heart failure, which affects approximately 664 million people annually with a high mortality rate. The presentation distinguishes between heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), noting that both conditions are inadequately served by current drug therapies. River BioMedics aims to address this gap by leveraging their expertise in differentiating induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into various cardiac cell types and assembling them into 3D cardiac strips, known as engineered heart tissue.
The presentation underscores the limitations of traditional preclinical models, such as rodent and large animal models, which often fail to accurately mimic human cardiac physiology. Marcelo explains that their 3D cardiac models offer a more relevant platform for studying heart function and drug effects, as they can measure key parameters like force of contraction and relaxation. This capability is crucial for modelling heart failure and validating potential drug targets.
Marcelo also discusses the scalability and cost-effectiveness of their platform, which uses injection moulding to produce the 3D cardiac strips. This method allows for high-throughput screening of compounds, making it feasible to test large numbers of potential drugs efficiently. The presentation concludes with examples of how River BioMedics has used their models to study various aspects of heart failure, including the effects of norepinephrine and doxorubicin on cardiac tissue.
Overall, Marcelo's presentation showcases River BioMedics' cutting-edge technology and its potential to revolutionise the field of cardiovascular drug discovery by providing more accurate and scalable models for preclinical testing.
