Next&Bio, a company specializing in organoid-based precision medicine, said Tuesday it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (CSI Singapore) to develop novel precision medicines using cancer organoids.

According to the terms of the agreement, CSI Singapore and Next&Bio will establish a joint cancer organoid laboratory and pursue joint projects.

Next&Bio will also use its organoid culture technology to generate an organoid bank with experts at CSI Singapore for cancer patient-derived organoid-based research projects and developing patient-specific drug evaluation platforms.

The proposed joint cancer organoid laboratory will likely enhance Next&Bio’s global network of organoid-based research collaborations to develop organoid-based solutions for research. The collaboration with CSI Singapore will take advantage of the diverse ethnic backgrounds represented in Singapore to create an Asian hub for cancer organoid-based precision medicine.

“Singapore has demographic and geographical advantages, which allows it to serve as the Asian hub for organoid-based cancer precision medicine,” Next&Bio Co-CEO Lee Hyun-sook said. “We also expect to benefit from synergies in technology development resulting from collaborations with world-class scientists and clinicians at CSI Singapore on organoid-based research in Asian cancer patients.”

Lee added that the company would strive to accelerate the realization of precision medicine to treat cancer by leveraging Next&Bio’s organoid culture technology and CSI Singapore’s unparalleled cancer research expertise.

“Cancer organoids that can reproduce the heterogeneity of patient tissues in vitro play an important role in research on personalized cancer medicines,” CSI Singapore Director Ashok Venkitaraman said. “We look forward to building an organoid bank at CSI Singapore with Next&Bio for studying multiple cancer tissues, including breast, colon, and liver cancer, to further develop individualized treatments.”