PharmaNest Launches FibroNest, the First Multivendor Image Analysis and Translational Platform for the Assessment of the Severity and Progression of Fibrosis in NASH

PRINCETON, N.J., September 24, 2019 (Newswire.com) - PharmaNest LLC announced today a breakthrough in image analysis for drug discovery and development with the launch of its FibroNest cloud-based and multi-vendor platform for the automated quantification of Fibrosis for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), for research-only-use project at this time. As a multi-vendor platform, it is compatible with all kinds of formats of digital images of tissues and biopsies generated by Two-Photon and Second Harmonic Systems such as from HistoIndex Genesis®200 or Zeiss 780/510 systems or from digital images from conventional pathology stained slides (Picro Sirius Red, Trichrome or Antibody stains for fibrosis) acquired by digital pathology slides scanners such as from Aperio, Leica, 3DHistech, and others.

The Platform has been engineered to quantify the fibrosis phenotype in three phenotypic dimensions including more than 40 traits and +350 parameters. “The model has been validated to establish a continuous score for the assessment of the severity and progression of fibrosis in 20+ pre-clinical models and most recently in clinical PBC, Adult NASH and Pediatric NASH, but it remains as an investigational tool at this stage,” explains Dr. Mathieu M. Petitjean, CEO of PharmaNest.

FibroNest is distributed worldwide on the cloud-based image Visualization and Analysis platform of ViQi, Inc of Santa Barbara, a strategic partner of PharmaNest.

“The discovery and development of novel therapeutics for NASH and other fibrotic diseases will significantly benefit from the fibrosis phenotypic mapping and continuous scores generated by FibroNest, to better quantify the multiple phenotypes expressed by fibrosis from disease initiation and progression in patients,” says Dr. Li Chen, Principal Investigator at PharmaNest.

PharmaNest uses FibroNest to deliver Image Analysis services worldwide for fibrosis-related studies. Clients and investigators upload their images and receive phenotypic maps and an automated composite phenotypic fibrosis score for a project fee.

FibroNest is also capable of quantifying the severity and progression of Steatosis in Liver and PharmaNest is currently developing and validating a scoring method for the Activity of the NASH disease.

Up-to-date results will be presented at the upcoming annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (2019 AASLD) in Boston on November 8-12,2019

Source: PharmaNest