ZTX-Predict for down-staging of liver metastasis patients
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | BioReperia AB |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 500 000 |
| Project duration | November 2025 - July 2026 |
| Status | Ongoing |
| Venture | Innovative Startups |
| Call | Innovative Startups 2025 |
Purpose and goal
Patients with liver metastases can only be cured by surgery, which often requires efficient pretreatment with chemotherapy. However, many patients do not get the desired effect from the pretreatment, which dramatically reduces survival. ZTX® PREDICT is a method that can predict the effect of chemo, but this requires a large piece of tissue. The goal of this project is to develop methods to use ZTX® PREDICT for evaluating effects of chemo based on small needle biopsies of liver metastasis tissue.
Expected effects and result
We expect that the project will allow us to run ZTX® PREDICT tests for patients with liver metastases where we only get small needle biopsy tissue pieces, which are much smaller than the piece of tissue used for this purpose today. If we are successful, we will be able to test the effects of chemotherapy on the patients´ own tumors before treatment begins, which will enable doctors to choose the right chemotherapy treatment for each patient and thereby increase survival.
Planned approach and implementation
The project is divided into two parts. In part 1, we will develop and validate new methods for tissue handling, new implantation matrices, and more efficient fluid handling processes, which are needed to be able to run the ZTX® PREDICT test based on a small needle biopsy. In part 2, we will investigate how doctors view the method, what is needed for it to be used in practice, and what we need to do to get there (a go-to-market analysis).