AxoSim Secures $1.1M Funding to Advance Novel Nerve-on-a-Chip Technology for Preclinical Drug Testing

On March 7, 2019, VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) learned that Axosim, a developer of neural chips, had completed a new round of equity financing amounting to $1.1 million, with the investors undisclosed. The company plans to raise an additional $1.4 million in subsequent financing following this round, bringing the total fundraising target to $2.5 million. The proceeds will be used to advance research on its peripheral nerve chip for predictive preclinical drug testing.

Axosim was founded in New Orleans, USA, in 2014. It is a biotechnology company spun out of the Moore Laboratory at Tulane University, dedicated to researching novel Nerve-on-a-Chip technology that can improve drug development in the pharmaceutical industry and chemotherapy field. Axosim was co-founded by Michael Moore, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Tulane University School of Medicine, and Lowry Curley, who holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Tulane University. With nearly 20 years of experience in biomaterials, neuroscience, and regenerative medicine, Professor Moore leads Axosim’s research and development efforts. Dr. Curley, specializing in tissue engineering and neuroscience, has driven the development of Axosim’s Nerve-on-a-Chip platform.

AxoSim’s Nerve-on-a-Chip platform enables clinical nerve conduction velocity measurements, facilitating the prediction of clinical neurotoxicity and efficacy in human neurodegenerative disease models during the early stages of drug development. The platform first organizes multicellular primary or iPSC cultures into 3D organoids; second, implants these organoids into AxoSim’s chip-based neural system to grow biomimetic human neural tissue; third, conducts clinically relevant nerve conduction tests to measure changes in electrophysiological properties; and finally, correlates structural changes with functional metrics to derive analytical insights into nerve conduction mechanisms.

This platform utilizes 3D biomimetic cellular research models developed by AxoSim. These models replicate the structure and function of living tissues, serving as alternatives to costly animal testing and ineffective Petri dish cultures, and are recognized as a substitute for animal testing. However, as these models only provide a coarse simulation of human cellular and organ system functions, they cannot accurately predict efficacy data from early preclinical trials or identify all potential neurotoxic side effects with 100% certainty.

AxoSim is also pursuing additional research directions, including applying this technology to drug development for multiple sclerosis.

Lowry Curley, Co-founder and CEO of AxoSim, stated, “We provide a more reliable testing model that helps pharmaceutical companies deliver new disease treatments to patients faster by reducing the risks associated with potential therapies and eliminating problematic drug candidates. It is well known that chemotherapy drugs can cause severe side effects, including damage to the nervous system. We will demonstrate that our model is effective in evaluating potential treatments for cancer patients.”

(Compiled by Li Chengping)