"R3 Bio has been quietly pitching the idea to investors and in industry publications as a way to replace lab animals without the ethical issues that come with living organisms."
"The company's long-term goal, cofounder Alice Gilman says, is to make human versions that could be used as a source of tissues and organs for people who need them."
"We think replacement is probably better than repair when it comes to treating diseases or regulating the aging process in the human body, says CEO Boyang Wang."
"The benefit of using models that are more ethical and are exclusively organ systems would be that testing can be meaningfully more scalable, Gilman says."
R3 Bio, a biotech startup, is developing nonsentient organ sacks to replace animal testing in research. These organ structures would lack brains, eliminating ethical concerns associated with sentient beings. The company aims to create human versions for organ and tissue sourcing. Immortal Dragons, a longevity fund, supports this approach, believing replacement strategies may be more effective than repair in treating diseases. R3's initial focus is on monkey organ sacks, addressing ethical issues and scalability in drug testing, especially as monkey populations decline in the US.
Read at WIRED
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