‘Use of human tissues is now a ‘must have,’’ says CRO

The partnership formalizes a long-standing relationship between Tissue Solutions Ltd and HistologiX Ltd, both of which will continue to trade as independent companies as part of the holding company The Intelligent Tissue Group Ltd.

UK-based Tissue Solutions is a global virtual biobank sourcing human tissue and biomaterials. Also based in the UK, HistologiX is a good laboratory practice (GLP), good clinical practice (GCP) compliant immunohistochemistry (IHC) and histology lab.

Fiona Mackenzie, PhD, MBA, client services director at Tissue Solutions, said the acquisition will provide clients with a “one-stop shop”​ for tissues and tissue-related contract research organization (CRO) services.

“Human biomaterials are now being increasingly used at an early stage of drug discovery and preclinical testing to address the high fail rate seen in the past twenty years which has resulted in the so-called ‘clinical cliff,’”​ she told us.

“During this time, the number of new drugs and biologic applications submitted to FDA has declined significantly and many drugs also fail in Phase II.”​

To address this, Mackenzie explained that drug companies are using human samples at all stages of the drug discovery and development pipeline to accelerate research.

“Use of human tissues is now a ‘must have’ rather than a ‘nice to have’ requirement in research projects, it has become the norm for most areas of biomedical research and not just for toxicology,”​ she said.

Additionally, biomarker-based research is being used at all stages, from early-stage drug discovery to clinical trials, Mackenzie noted.

As a virtual biobank, Tissue Solutions delivers acquired tissue to clients through its supply network of more than 160 sources worldwide, including commercial suppliers as well as hospital sources, specialist biobank collections, post-mortem sites, and through collaborations with clinicians.

The company is ISO 9001:2015 certified and has approximately 300 active clients based in Europe, Asia, and US territories.