Sviluppato un nuovo modello di cuore umano computerizzato in grado di valutare l'insorgenza di aritmie provocate da farmaci, con un'accuratezza dell'89% contro il 75% di accuratezza utilizzando cellule di coniglio (Oxford University). All'Università di Siracusa sviluppato un modello 3 D in grado di rivelare l'impatto dei farmaci sul cuore fetale.
"Virtual Assay" better than
animals for drug testing
A new computer model shows great potential to eliminate animals in drug tests. The “Virtual Assay,” developed by researchers at Oxford University, successfully models how human cardiac cells respond to drugs. When matched up with known clinical data, the computer model was accurate the vast majority of the time. Specifically, the Virtual Assay predicted if a drug could cause an irregular heartbeat in people 89% of the time, compared to 75% accuracy using rabbit cells.
The in silico test is extremely efficient, allowing one laptop to test one drug in 100 human cardiac cell models in under five minutes. Lead author Elisa Passini at Oxford estimates that the Virtual Assay can replace the use of drugs tests on rats, mice, rabbits, guinea-pigs, dogs, and pigs.
The Virtual Assay is already being used by four pharmaceutical companies, including Merck and Janssen, and just received the 2017 International award from the UK-based National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement, and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs).
