Human tissue can ‘help improve clinical trials’

Using human tissue in pharmaceutical research could help achieve better results, an industry figure has claimed.

Pre-clinical contract research organization Asterand says that human tissue can help correct the high failure rates often seen during clinical trials.

Chief executive Randal Charlton told LaboratoryTalk that the “value of using human tissue during drug discovery and drug development within the pharmaceutical industry is becoming increasingly important”.

“There is a compelling need to reduce the unacceptable failure rate associated with converting drug development candidates into safe, effective medicines,” he argued.

By using the drug with human tissue at an early stage, he said greater advances could be made in determining the potential efficacy and safety of any treatment.

The UK and US-based firm is now focussing on the provision of drug discovery services using human tissue, with the recent clinical trial disaster in the UK heightening attention on the procedures behind drug development.

Asterand, formerly known as Pharmagene, saw revenues fall from 2004 figures in its latest results published earlier this month, standing at ?2.7 million.

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