Our Mission

Drug development is a long and expensive process. Pharmaceutical companies worldwide spend between £200 million and £400 million for each drug compound that successfully reaches the market.

Hundreds compounds per year will be put forward for animal trials, mainly on rodents.

In addition to the ethical issues associated with animal testing a high proportion of drug candidates that pass animal trials do not reach the market. Typically two thirds will fail human trials due undesirable side effects - which were not observed in the animal model.

The challenge faced by all the pharmaceutical companies is how to screen out unsuccessful compounds much earlier in the process. 

This is the target market for Kirkstall’s inter-connected cell culture system. The in vitro system will allow drugs or cosmetics to be tested on human cells in a circulating medium, "blood equivalent", which passes through cells held on substrates or scaffolds, mimicking the in vivo environment and minimizing the need for animal testing.

For more information download the mission pdf