“I’m a pediatrician in metabolic diseases, and every day in my clinical work I’m confronted with our lack in effective therapies for our patients.” That was the sobering introduction by Sabine Fuchs in her talk at the 2025 Congress of the European Association for the Study of the Liver in Amsterdam this week. The nature of metabolic diseases makes it difficult to develop treatments for them. “There are over 1,500 diseases known by now, and it is just very difficult to develop therapies for each and every individual rare disease.”
Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is a growing global health concern, with an estimated prevalence of around 25% worldwide. This chronic liver condition is characterized by lipid deposition in the liver, which can lead to inflammation, scarring and even liver cancer if left untreated.
In a roadmap to change animal testing requirements for INDs, the U.S. FDA said its new approach will improve drug safety, hasten the evaluation process, and lower costs for companies and patients. It’s another step in a process of changing rules put in place decades ago.
In a roadmap to change animal testing requirements for INDs, the U.S. FDA said its new approach will improve drug safety, hasten the evaluation process, and lower costs for companies and patients. It’s another step in a process of changing rules put in place decades ago.
In a recently published article, researchers from the University of Central Florida and collaborators reported developing a novel multiorgan microphysiological system (MPS) to simulate acute opioid overdose and recovery, addressing key challenges in opioid crisis research.
The U.K.’s leading bioethics body is calling for a new law to regulate the generation of stem cell-derived human embryo models and ensure that research does not cross ethical red lines. Currently, there is no statute governing the oversight of these models. In particular, bioethicists say there should be a statutory ban on the transfer of embryo models into the reproductive tract of humans and animals, with legal penalties for contraventions.
U.K scientists and ethicists have drawn up a code of practice for research in stem cell-derived embryo models, filling a governance gap that has opened up as these organoids have become more sophisticated and increasingly resemble their natural counterparts. “Synthetic” embryos now have the ability to organize into complex structures that approximate aspects of early human development, such as a beating heart, complex neural structures capable of signaling, sensory perception and limb-like structures.
Recently, researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, in collaboration with colleagues in Japan, have developed a human vascular organoid model that accurately mimics the vascular damage caused by SARS-CoV-2.
The Gustave Roussy cancer center, specializing in cancer treatment, and its technology transfer subsidiary Gustave Roussy Transfert, reported the creation of startup Orakl SA, which develops a technology for modeling cancer tumors called the patient tumor avatar. Orakl leverages a unique collection of patient tumor avatars, combining biological and clinical data to fuel the therapeutic arsenal to fight cancer.
Sensorium Therapeutics Inc. closed a $30 million series A round to fund the discovery and development of new psychiatric drugs, inspired by human ethnobotanical practices that date back hundreds or even thousands of years.
