CCTV Highlights Signet Therapeutics' Organoid Innovations: AI-Driven Cardiac Toxicity Platform and Automated Organoid Workstation
SIGNET
Innovative Targeted Cancer Drug Developer
On December 8, the CCTV-13 News Channel's "Morning News" program and the CCTV-1 General Channel reported on SIGNET's"Organoid + AI" Self-Developed Cardiac Organoid Drug Toxicity Testing PlatformAndOrganoid Automation WorkstationSIGNET, as one of the early incubated companies of Tsinghua University Research Institute in Shenzhen, owes its innovative achievements, which have been reported by CCTV this time, to the continuous support and assistance from Tsinghua Research Institute since its inception.
Dr. Haisheng Zhang, the founder and CEO of the company, specifically mentioned in an interview: "Today's development is inseparable from the comprehensive professional support provided by the team of Renchen Liu (Deputy Director of Tsinghua University Research Institute in Shenzhen, Senior Vocational Technical Manager of Shenzhen Ivy Plan), from financial support to clinical resource integration and product implementation planning." He remarked, "In our early days when there were only three of us, the Research Institute not only provided business and financial support but also recognized our cutting-edge ideas, which I think was truly invaluable."
Interview with Dr. Haisheng Zhang, Founder and CEO of Signet Therapeutics
The cardiac organoids developed by Signet Therapeutics, as shown in the report, aim to address the limitations of traditional preclinical cardiotoxicity evaluation: compared to the conventional "hERG" cardiotoxicity testing method (with a predictive accuracy of approximately 45%) that mainly relies on potassium ion channels, the human-derived cardiac organoid model established by Signet Therapeutics can more comprehensively simulate cardiac physiological functions and integrate AI for data analysis.Increase the accuracy of drug cardiotoxicity prediction to approximately 85%, providing a more reliable and physiologically relevant solution for preclinical drug safety evaluation.
SIGNET Cardiac Organoids
The SIGNET organoid automation workstation featured in the report supportsHigh-Throughput Organoid Sample Processing, with built-in standardized experimental procedures, ensures highly consistent and repeatable operations while significantly meeting the demands of large-scale drug screening and toxicity evaluation, providing a more efficient platform support for the early development of innovative drugs.
SIGNET Organoid Automation Workstation
This showcase on national-level media platforms is another recognition of SIGNET's innovation in drug discovery paradigms through "organoids + AI." The company will continue to focus on the in-depth development and application of this platform, helping to improve the efficiency and success rate of drug discovery.
SIGNET Appears on CCTV-1
About SIGNET
SIGNET is a pioneer in the global "organoid + AI" empowered innovative targeted drug R&D model, and is a national high-tech enterprise as well as a specialized and new enterprise. The company's founding team consists of outstanding talents from top institutions such as Harvard University, MIT, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. As first/corresponding authors, they have published more than 20 groundbreaking research achievements in the field of gastric cancer and esophageal cancer in journals with impact factors over 20, such as Nature, Nature Medicine, and Cancer Cell, making them a global leader in the research of gastric and esophageal cancer. Since its establishment in Shenzhen at the end of 2020, the company has completed nearly 220 million yuan in financing and project funding, and holds more than 40 core intellectual properties.
The company currently has four first-in-class drug pipelines and one organoid platform in its portfolio. Its core pipeline, SIGX1094R, is the world’s first targeted drug for diffuse gastric cancer. It has successively received IND approval from the U.S. FDA and China's NMPA, as well as Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) and Fast Track Designation (FTD) from the U.S. FDA. In August 2025, this drug was nominated for the Galien Award, known as the "Nobel Prize of the pharmaceutical industry." It is currently undergoing Phase I clinical trials at the Peking University Cancer Hospital. This pipeline is also the world’s first drug to be advanced to the clinical stage through an "organoid + AI" technology platform, with Phase II clinical trials expected to commence by the end of 2025.
Since its establishment at the end of 2020, Signet Therapeutics' forward-looking strategic layout of an "Organoid + AI"-powered technology system for innovative targeted cancer drug development has gained international authoritative recognition. It was featured on the homepage of Fierce Biotech, a globally renowned biotech media outlet, and hailed as the "NEXT Generation paradigm for cancer drug development." In April 2025, the U.S. FDA officially issued a statement explicitly supporting the gradual replacement of traditional animal testing with organoid and AI technologies, fully validating the foresight and scientific rigor of the company’s technical layout from four years prior.
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