Progress your compounds from discovery to in vivo efficacy with the experts.
Hera’s preclinical in vivo CRO services enable you to de-risk your program while accelerating your discovery and development pipeline. We pride ourselves on our ability to rapidly accommodate the Sponsor’s needs and deliver precise, unbiased, and timely results.
Drug Efficacy Studies
Hera provides drug efficacy studies in a variety of in vivo models, including multiple immunodeficient mouse strains and our SRG OncoRat®, a rat model unsurpassed for immunodeficiency and ease of use.
While our passion is preclinical oncology and immuno-oncology studies, including syngeneic models and cell- and patient-derived cancer xenografts, our experience extends to humanized immune system (PBMC or CD34+) models as well as novel transgenic models that we engineer and validate for our clients.
Hera has flexible study start dates due to our expert scientific staff and dedicated teams of study personnel that can accommodate even the most difficult projects.
Beyond drug efficacy, additional endpoints include:
- PK/PD sampling and analysis
- Necropsy/Histopathology
- Immune cell characterization by flow cytometry
- Clinical chemistry / Hematology
- Other biomarker screening and analysis
Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics
Our flexible services include serial blood and tissue/organ collection in both mice and rat models combined with your choice of dosing routes. The SRG rat enables serial tumor biopsies to study intra-tumor drug exposure (PD).
Toxicology Studies
Hera offers an array of toxicology studies from single dose acute toxicity to range finding or maximum tolerated dose studies to repeat dose toxicity studies. Our services allow you to take the first step in determining the safest and most appropriate in vivo concentrations for your drug candidates.
Oncology Services
Hera provides in vitro and in vivo oncology studies to leaders in industry and academia. We have optimized numerous models in both mice and the SRG OncoRat®.
The SRG OncoRat®
The SRG OncoRat is the ideal xenograft host because it is highly immunodeficient, completely lacking circulating B-cells, T-cells, and NK-cells. The OncoRat boasts high xenograft and PDX tumor engraftment rates and more uniform growth kinetics that seen in mice. Because the SRG was generated on the Sprague- Dawley background, the primary strain used for drug metabolism and toxicity studies, the SRG rat provides the option to combine efficacy with in vivo lead optimization parameters to identify meaningful risks early and accelerate your preclinical program. Learn more about the SRG OncoRat.