Imagine you could test a new diabetes drug on a tiny lab-grown pancreas instead of relying on flat cell cultures or animal testing that often give wrong answers. That's exactly what this project built — an Engineered Micro Pancreas made from real human insulin-producing cells arranged in 3D, mimicking how the organ actually works. Right now, 90% of new drugs fail before reaching patients, partly because early tests don't predict real results. This mini-pancreas gives pharmaceutical companies a much more reliable way to screen drug candidates early, so they waste less money chasing dead ends.
Developing new diabetes drugs is staggeringly expensive — about €1 Billion per drug — and 90% of candidates fail before reaching the market. A major reason is that current lab testing methods (flat cell cultures, animal models) poorly predict how drugs will behave in real human organs. Companies need a faster, cheaper, and more reliable way to screen drug compounds in the earliest stages of development.
The project built an Engineered Micro Pancreas (EMP) — a 3D cell culture model using human-sourced insulin-producing cells that mimics real pancreas function. Deliverables include a project website, video and article publication, and a project presentation for commercial outreach.
If you are a pharmaceutical company spending billions on diabetes drug development — this project developed an Engineered Micro Pancreas (EMP) that improves compound screening success from 5% to at least 20%. With new drug development costing approximately €1 Billion to reach market, even a modest improvement in early-stage screening could save you up to €100 million per drug program.
If you are a contract research organization providing drug screening services to pharma clients — this project created a 3D cell-based testing platform with significantly extended shelf life and function. The EMP system enables in-depth studies of drug molecule mode of action, validation, toxicology and in vitro pharmacokinetics, giving your clients higher prediction reliability and differentiating your service offering.
If you are a biotech company or academic lab working on diabetes therapies and tired of unreliable 2D cell cultures — this project built a human-sourced 3D organ model that more accurately predicts how drug compounds will behave. With 425 million adults living with diabetes and growing, the demand for better screening tools is urgent, and this technology is designed to be commercially available to direct end-users including academia.
The project data does not specify a per-unit price for the Engineered Micro Pancreas. However, the objective states that improved screening could save up to €100 million per new drug development by reducing the current 90% failure rate. Pricing details would need to be discussed with Betalin Therapeutics directly.
The project was funded under Fast Track to Innovation (FTI), which targets technologies ready for market entry. The objective explicitly mentions plans for immediate commercialization to direct end-users including pharma companies such as Boehringer Ingelheim. The consortium includes two industrial partners across three countries (CH, DE, IL).
The project was coordinated by Betalin Therapeutics Ltd, an Israeli SME, with commercial partner Kugelmeiers. Based on available project data, these two companies are described as the commercial leading partners who will share growth and revenues. Licensing inquiries should be directed to these entities.
The EMP system is designed for in vitro pharmacokinetics and toxicology studies. The project objective mentions validation as part of its market entry plan. However, specific regulatory clearances or endorsements are not detailed in the available project data.
Based on available project data, the EMP system was designed as a tool that end-users — both academia and pharma — can adopt directly. The extended shelf life mentioned in the objective suggests it can be shipped and stored more easily than traditional cell cultures. Specific integration timelines would need to be confirmed with the provider.
The project objective states the technology improves compound screening success at least 4-fold — from the current 5% success rate to at least 20%. This is based on the higher prediction reliability provided by the 3D organ-derived model compared to conventional 2D cell cultures.
Based on available project data, Betalin Therapeutics and Kugelmeiers are the commercial partners driving the product to market. The FTI funding was specifically aimed at enabling market entry and supporting external fundraising for wider market penetration. Support arrangements would need to be discussed directly.
The consortium is compact and commercially focused: 4 partners across Israel, Germany, and Switzerland, with a 50/50 split between industry and academia. Both industrial partners are SMEs — Betalin Therapeutics (Israel) as coordinator and Kugelmeiers (likely Switzerland) as co-commercial lead — which means decision-making is fast and the technology is not locked inside a large corporation. The two university partners provide scientific backing without diluting the commercial drive. This structure is well-suited for a company looking to license or purchase the technology, as you would deal directly with agile SMEs rather than navigating large institutional bureaucracies.
Betalin Therapeutics Ltd (Israel) — contact via company website or SciTransfer can facilitate introduction
Want to explore how this 3D diabetes drug screening technology could cut your R&D costs? SciTransfer can arrange a direct introduction to the development team and provide a detailed technology brief.
