Method of Testing the Safety and Efficacy of a Drug

• US 20070172814A1
• Filed: 01/30/2007
• Published: 07/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Discovery Life Sciences LLC
• Original Assignee: Discovery Life Sciences LLC
• Inventors: Li, Albert
• Application Number:
  US11/668,976
• Publication Number:
  US 20070172814A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 435/4
• CPC Class Codes: C12M 23/12 Well or multiwell plates C12M25/04 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C12M 25/04 in combination with well or multiwell plates, i.e. culture inserts
• CPC Class Codes: C12M 35/08 Chemical, biochemical or biological means, e.g. plasma jet, co-culture

Abstract

A method of testing the safety and efficacy of a drug in a culture tray having a plurality of wells surrounded by a chamber wall configured to contain a liquid volume. The method includes depositing different cells of an organism in separate wells of the culture dish, depositing a harmful agent in another of the wells, interconnecting the wells via a fluid medium and introducing a dose of the drug into the fluid medium.

Claims

1. A method of testing the safety and efficacy of a drug in a culture tray having a plurality of wells surrounded by a chamber wall configured to contain a liquid volume, comprising:

depositing different cells of an organism in separate wells of the culture dish;

depositing a harmful agent in another of the wells;

interconnecting the wells via a fluid medium; and

introducing a dose of the drug into the fluid medium.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the different cells of the organism are harmed by the dose of the drug.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining whether growth of the harmful agent is diminished by the dose of the drug.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

increasing the dose of the drug if the different cells of the organism are not harmed and the growth of the harmful agent is not diminished.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the harmful agent comprises tumor cells.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the drug comprises an anti-tumor medication.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the different cells of the organism comprise liver, kidney, heart, lung, spleen, and brain cells of the human body.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

increasing the dose of the drug until the drug harms the different cells of the organism; and

designating the dose of the drug at which the different cells of the organism are harmed as a toxic dose level.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

increasing the dose of the drug until the effect of the harmful agent is reduced; and

designating the dose of the drug at which the effect of the harmful agent is reduced as an effective dose level.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the harmful agent comprises cholesterol;

the drug comprises an anti-cholesterol drug; and

the different cells include liver cells.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the harmful agent comprises cancer cells; and

the drug includes an undesirable toxicity above a certain dose.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

depositing one or more culture medium in the separate wells.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

culturing the different cells in the separate wells.

14. A method of simultaneously conducting multiple tests of the safety and efficacy of a drug in a culture tray having more than one set of wells, each set of wells being segregated in a chamber, comprising:

depositing different cells of an organism in separate wells in each chamber;

depositing a harmful agent in one of the wells in each chamber;

interconnecting the wells in each chamber via a fluid medium; and

introducing a dose of the drug into the fluid medium in each chamber with the dose of the drug being varied in each chamber.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

providing the tray segregated into 12 chamber units each having a chamber wall surrounding 8 of the wells.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

providing the tray segregated into 64 chamber units each having a chamber wall surrounding 6 of the wells.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

providing the tray segregated into 256 chamber units each having a chamber wall surrounding 6 of the wells.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

depositing a one or more culture medium in the separate wells in each chamber.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

culturing the different cells in the separate wells.

20. A method of testing the safety and efficacy of a drug in a culture tray having a plurality of wells surrounded by a chamber wall configured to contain a liquid volume, comprising:

depositing a first cell type in a first well and a second cell type in a second well;

depositing a harmful agent in a third well;

interconnecting the first, second and third well via a fluid medium contained by the chamber wall;

introducing a dose of the drug into the fluid medium;

determining whether the first cell type or the second cell type are harmed by the dose of the drug; and

determining whether growth of the harmful agent is inhibited by the dose of the drug.