Leiden, March 3, 2023 – MIMETAS has achieved major milestones in its partnership with Roche, developing models for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and Hepatitis B Virus infections (HBV).

In July 2021, MIMETAS and Roche entered a risk-sharing collaboration to develop human disease models for the characterization of novel compounds in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and Hepatitis B virus infections (HBV). You can find the original press release here.

"We have achieved critical milestones in modeling the human gut, IBD, and HBV infection in the laboratory,” says Jos Joore, CEO of MIMETAS. “This success required hard work, tenacity, and technological and biological know-how. I’m proud of our scientific team that made this possible and grateful for Roche’s trust in our capabilities. We will keep pushing the boundaries of human disease models to lead the way in deploying these for first-in-class target and compound discovery."

IBD is a chronic inflammatory disorder affecting multiple gastrointestinal tract segments. Its multifactorial nature renders the condition challenging to diagnose and treat. The current treatment options for IBD, which include corticosteroids and anti-TNF biologics, are associated with significant side effects and do not work for a large group of patients. Similarly, HBV is a complex viral infection that can cause liver damage and increase the risk of liver cancer. Existing HBV treatments are limited in their efficacy, and developing novel therapeutics has been challenging due to the rapid mutation of the virus. The development of effective, novel therapies for IBD and HBV has been challenging due to the complexity of these diseases and the limited availability of physiologically-relevant human models for drug discovery.

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