Business Wire

Crown Bioscience: First Clinical Candidate Developed Using HUB Organoids® and High Content Screening Targets Cancer Stem Cells in Solid Tumors, Published in Nature Cancer

28.4.2022 19:20:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release

Share

Crown Bioscience, a JSR Life Sciences company, and HUB Organoids (HUB) announced today the publication of preclinical data in the journal, Nature Cancer, on a bispecific antibody which prevents the onset of metastasis and slows the growth of primary tumors in experimental models of cancer.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220428006002/en/

The study was the result of work by an international consortium, SuppresSTEM which included Crown Bioscience (previously OcellO B.V.) and HUB. Crown Bioscience and HUB led the design of the experiments which were executed using the high content screening platform from Crown Bioscience using HUB Organoids. These studies enabled the discrimination of antibodies that were active against a broad range of mutational profiles and tumor subtypes, with hit validation and mechanism of action studies that enabled selection of optimally performing antibodies. Follow up in vivo studies in matched patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models were also performed by Crown Bioscience.

The work, spanning about five years, involved Crown Bioscience screening a library of hundreds of bispecific antibodies and rescreening of ‘hits’ in a panel of patient-derived colorectal cancer organoids and matching normal organoids, that were developed by HUB and characterized by HUB and other consortium members. Organoids are stem cell-derived mini-organs developed from any patient resection or biopsy tissue that can be grown in the laboratory, which can be applied like conventional cell lines in early drug discovery.

“This is the first study that has used organoids exclusively for cell-based compound screening and characterization, leading to a compound entering clinical trials. This is a truly remarkable achievement that demonstrates the validity and application of HUB Organoids in high throughput screening and oncology drug discovery”, said Leo Price PhD, Senior Vice President In Vitro Oncology at Crown Bioscience.

“This groundbreaking work demonstrates the power and potential of HUB Organoid Technology”, commented Rob Vries PhD, CEO at HUB. “Using organoids, we were able to accelerate the timeline from initial discovery to clinical trials to about five years.”

Nature Cancer is a journal which covers the latest, most significant cancer-related advances across the life, physical, applied and social sciences, focusing on new approaches for the development and delivery of diagnostics and therapeutics, as well as clinical studies regarding cancer diagnosis, treatment and prevention.

Read the full paper here: https://go.nature.com/3LhuAAy

###

About Crown Bioscience

Crown Bioscience, a JSR Life Sciences company, is a global contract research organization (CRO) providing preclinical and translational platforms to advance oncology, immuno-oncology, and immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. The company is the only preclinical CRO to hold a commercial license to provide tumor organoid services utilizing HUB technology and has the world’s largest commercially available PDX collection. Crown Bioscience helps deliver superior drug candidates to ensure that patients get the right treatment at the right time. Founded in 2006, Crown Bioscience has nine facilities in the US, Europe and Asia. Find out more: https://www.crownbio.com.

About HUB

HUB Organoids (HUB) is the global leader in the field of adult stem cell-derived organoid. The technology invented by HUB’s scientists in the lab of world-renowned Prof. Hans Clevers represents a paradigm shift for drug discovery and development, preclinical patient stratification, predictive diagnostics, personalized medicine, clinical trials, regenerative medicine, and companion diagnostics. HUB offers licenses to its proprietary technology and provides drug screening services and access to its living organoid biobanks.

About SupresStem

The SuppresSTEM consortium was funded by EU FP7 and involved collaborative work by companies including OcellO B.V./Crown Bioscience, HUB Organoids, and Merus N.V., and international research institutions including the Hubrecht Institute, IRB Barcelona and the Sanger Institute. The Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), the Catalan Institute of Oncology and the company Xenopad also collaborated in data for this publication. The consortium set out to develop novel antibody-based therapeutics targeting cancer stem cells for the treatment of colorectal cancer as well as patient-derived organoid-based screening tools to aid drug discovery.

To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.

Contact information

Media Enquiries
Crown Bioscience
Louise Stenson
pr@crownbio.com

About Business Wire

For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.

Subscribe to releases from Business Wire

Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Latest releases from Business Wire

KfW, Germany’s largest national promotional bank, future-proofs regulatory reporting, by migrating to Regnology Reporting Hub (RRH)19.5.2026 09:33:00 EEST | Press release

Regnology, a leading provider at the intersection of regulatory, risk, and supervisory technology, today announced that KfW Bankengruppe (KfW) is advancing its long-term partnership with the company by electing to migrate to the next-generation Regulatory Reporting Hub (RRH). The solution will be delivered as a cloud-native service on Rcloud, Regnology’s high-performance cloud architecture layer. This strategic move to the modern RRH platform future-proofs the mission-critical reporting functions for one of the world's leading promotional banks. Headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, KfW is a public‑law institution dedicated to supporting sustainable economic, social and ecological development in Germany, across Europe and globally. Regnology’s foresight led to the 2023 launch of Rcloud, its state-of-the-art architecture layer built on Google Cloud, enabling next‑generation solutions like RRH to operate with the full power of cloud-native design delivering the clear operational and strate

ATB Therapeutics Appoints Mark Throsby as CEO to Lead Next Phase of Growth19.5.2026 09:00:00 EEST | Press release

ATB Therapeutics (“ATB” or the “Company”), a biopharmaceutical company advancing next-generation antibody-based therapies for oncology and immunology, today announced the appointment of Mark Throsby, PhD, as Chief Executive Officer. The leadership transition marks an important milestone as the Company continues its evolution from a startup into a development-stage biopharmaceutical company. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260513198633/en/ ATB Therapeutics Appoints Mark Throsby as CEO to Lead Next Phase of Growth Mark Throsby has served as Executive Chairman and Chief Scientific Officer since 2024, during which time he supported the Company’s growth, including the successful closing of its Series A financing, the expansion of the scientific team, and the advancement of its therapeutic programs. In his new role, he will lead ATB’s strategy and senior leadership team as the Company prepares to enter clinical deve

TREASoURcE Shows How Circular Economy Solutions Can Move Beyond Pilots Across Sectors and Regions19.5.2026 08:00:00 EEST | Press release

Across Europe, many circular economy solutions struggle to move beyond isolated pilots and into real-world deployment at scale. New approaches are needed that combine technical feasibility, market relevance and citizen engagement, while remaining adaptable to local contexts. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260518914041/en/ TREASoURcE addressed circular economy challenges across energy, plastics and biobased side streams, combining technical solutions with stakeholder and citizen engagement. The EU-funded TREASoURcE project provides evidence that systemic, citizen-engaged circular economy solutions can be developed, tested and prepared for replication across regions. Using a common regional approach, the project combined real-life demonstrations, cross-value chain collaboration and early consideration of transferability to translate circular economy concepts into practical solutions in the fields of energy, mat

Shufti Recognised as Dual Leader in Liminal's 2026 Age Verification and Age Estimation Indexes, with Exceptional Ratings Across Both Benchmarks19.5.2026 08:00:00 EEST | Press release

Shufti has been named a Leader in both the Age Verification and Age Estimation categories of Liminal’s 2026 Index Report, receiving an Exceptional rating for Market Presence across both. Liminal, an actionable intelligence firm, evaluates identity verification vendors across Product Execution, Strategy, and Market Presence, assessing scalability, accuracy, fraud resistance, innovation, and user experience. Out of 189 vendors assessed in the Age Verification Index, only 17 achieved Leader status. Shufti was among them and exceeded the leadership threshold with a 64% Product Execution score and a 92% Strategy score. In Age Estimation, Shufti again ranked among 17 Leaders from 80 evaluated vendors, exceeding leadership thresholds across core evaluation pillars, alongside an Exceptional Market Presence rating in both categories. “Achieving Leader status in both Age Estimation and Age Verification reflects that our solutions are built for accurate, scalable, and privacy-first age assurance

Azafaros Strengthens Leadership Team With Appointment of Amy Sullivan as Chief Financial Officer19.5.2026 08:00:00 EEST | Press release

Azafaros, a private company building a portfolio to become a leader in Lysosomal Storage Disorders and focused on addressing neurological symptoms, today announced that Amy Sullivan has joined the company as Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Sullivan brings more than 30 years’ experience in the life sciences sector, with expertise in capital raising, corporate strategy and communications. She joins Azafaros from IO Biotech, where she served as Chief Financial Officer. “Amy is a highly accomplished financial leader with a strong track record of supporting growth-stage biotech companies,” said Stefano Portolano, Chief Executive Officer at Azafaros. “Her expertise in financing, strategic positioning and transaction execution will be instrumental as we advance our Phase 3 studies with nizubaglustat and continue to build Azafaros as we prepare to file for drug marketing authorization and launch in GM1/GM2 and NPC.” “I am excited to join Azafaros at such an important stage in the company’s develo

In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.

Visit our pressroom
World GlobeA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.HiddenA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.Eye