Business · Companies · 3 hrs ago
Intero Biosystems sells lab-grown human gut models for drug testing
Denver startup Intero Biosystems sells lab-grown human intestinal tissue to companies studying drugs and other compounds.
Its GastroScreen product contains organoids, tiny structures designed to mimic parts of the human gut.
Customers can use healthy models or create disease-like conditions to study how tissue responds to a substance.
The models may help researchers assess gut safety and disease effects before testing a drug in people.
Animal tests have long been used in drug development, but results in animals do not always predict what happens in humans, and many drugs fail during development.
US regulators are encouraging alternatives to animal testing, including organoids, while guidance sets out how developers should validate these methods for regulatory submissions.
Intero says it had just under 10 customers and seven employees after raising $2.3 million in pre-seed funding last year.
Whether an organoid study can support a regulatory submission depends on the method and its data, and the guidance does not endorse a specific approach.
Intero Biosystems sells lab-grown human intestinal organoids to companies for testing drugs and other compounds.
The Denver-based startup says its models contain multiple cell and tissue types found in the human intestine.
Customers can use the organoids as healthy models or induce disease-like conditions to study responses to compounds.
Intero also sells growth supplies and runs custom studies for customers.
The company says it generated more than $400,000 in revenue from the fourth quarter of last year through the third quarter of this year.
- Who
- Intero Biosystems, a Denver-based startup spun out of the University of Michigan.
- What
- It sells human intestinal organoids and related services for testing drugs and other compounds.
- When
- Founded in 2024; the article was published on October 14, 2026.
- Where
- Denver, Colorado; the source does not state where the organoids are sold.
- Why
- The models are intended to help study how compounds affect human intestinal tissue and support alternatives to animal testing.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Intero Biosystems was founded.
The FDA laid out plans to reduce its reliance on animal testing in drug development.
The FDA issued draft guidance on validating non-animal testing methods for regulatory submissions.
Intero generated more than $400,000 in revenue, according to its CEO.
- Flagship product
- GastroScreen
- Organoid size
- About one millimeter across
- Typical shipment
- Roughly 100 organoids in a tube
- Employees
- Seven
- Customers
- Just under 10
- Pre-seed funding
- $2.3 million
What people are saying
Most drugs fail clinical trials, and I think it’s pretty easy to appreciate that we are neither mice nor flat layers of cells
We’re literally shipping mini living organs in the mail to people