Intero Biosystems, a Denver-based startup spun out of the University of Michigan, is commercializing lab-grown human intestinal organoids called GastroScreen. The millimeter-scale tissues are shipped in tubes to pharmaceutical, biotech, food, and chemical companies for drug safety and disease research. Founded in 2024, the company has seven employees, fewer than ten customers, and reported over $400,000 in revenue from Q4 last year through Q3 this year after raising a $2.3 million pre-seed round.
The startup sells not only the organoids but also the supplies to grow and work with them, and it runs custom studies for clients. Its model is derived from induced pluripotent stem cells, which the company says allows for scalability and eventual personalization. Intero is in the second stage of a three-stage validation process, testing known drugs against GastroScreen before comparing results with pharma companies' existing animal and clinical data.
Regulatory shifts are helping drive interest. The FDA has outlined plans to reduce reliance on animal testing and issued draft guidance on validating non-animal methods. Intero faces competitors including Altis Biosystems, InSphero, and organ-on-chip maker MIMETAS. Longer term, the company plans to scale production to hundreds of thousands of organoids per batch and license biological data to AI and pharma companies.