Stem Pharm

Stem Pharm is a drug discovery platform company leveraging biologically advanced 3D human neural organoids to improve clinical translation. Our human stem cell derived organoids model the complex biology involved in neurologic diseases such as neurodegeneration and brain cancers. With the ability to study neuroinflammation through the incorporation of microglia, the brain's immune cell, our models enable study of the next generation of therapeutic targets and discovery of new drugs. These advanced humanized models will improve clinical translation and bring needed drugs to patients suffering from devastating neurologic diseases. Stem Pharm was founded on technology licensed from UW-Madison and is led by a team with deep experience developing and commercializing pharmaceutical and life sciences technologies.

What is the problem?

Neurologic diseases and disorders affect approximately 50M Americans and have devastating consequences for patients and their families. Depending on the disease, there are few or no effective therapeutics available to these patients and unfortunately over 90% of drugs in development fail to reach the marketplace. Simple cell models and animal models contribute to poor clinical translation as they inadequately represent these complex diseases. There is a great need for physiologically relevant human in vitro models that can reduce the risks of progressing ineffective drugs into the clinic. With recent technology developments, we have a greater understanding of brain disorders and a renewed excitement to solve these challenges. Stem Pharm has developed an in vitro platform based on human derived stem cells that replicates aspects of brain cell function and can model disease biology. Stem Pharm provides access to this powerful platform to pharmaceutical partners to aid in their drug discovery programs.

What is their solution?

Stem Pharm has developed an advanced in vitro human neural organoid platform for neurological drug discovery based on stem cell technology. Stem Pharm’s neural organoids are composed of a diverse cellular microenvironment, with neurons, astrocytes, vascular cells and feature microglia, the brain’s resident immune cells. These physiologically relevant organoids enable the study of neuroinflammation and can model features of human neurodegeneration not observed in rodent models, making them a superior platform for neuro-immune drug discovery research. The organoids are compatible with advanced readouts including transcriptomics, imaging, and cytokine analysis and can be used to identify disease pathways, discover new drug targets, and select and validate lead compounds. This versatile platform also allows for introduction of other cells and biologics. Use of the platform will aid in the discovery and ultimate approval of novel drugs to treat some of the most devastating neurologic diseases.