Brief
Intero Biosystems markets human‑intestinal organoids as animal‑free drug test model
The company ships mini‑living gut models to pharma and biotech firms, citing FDA guidance that encourages alternatives to animal testing.
By Felo News Desk · Published
Intero Biosystems, a Denver‑based startup that spun out of the University of Michigan, is selling human intestinal organoids as an alternative to animal testing for drug development, TechCrunch reported on 14 October 2026.
What happened
Intero’s flagship product, GastroScreen, consists of lab‑grown intestinal tissue about one millimetre across. The company ships roughly 100 organoids at a time in a tube, allowing customers to expose the tissue to drug candidates or disease‑like conditions and observe responses. Co‑founder and CEO Charlie Childs said the firm is “literally shipping mini living organs in the mail to people.”
What the report adds
According to the article, each organoid contains multiple cell and tissue types found in the human gut, which the company claims makes the model more human‑relevant than simpler cell‑layer systems. Co‑founder and CTO Madeline Eiken emphasized that “most drugs fail clinical trials, and I think it’s pretty easy to appreciate that we are neither mice nor flat layers of cells.” Intero also provides the nutrient mixes and chemicals needed to grow the organoids, and it can design custom experiments, run lab tests, and deliver data to clients.
What was said
Childs told TechCrunch that the startup generated more than $400,000 in revenue from the fourth quarter of last year through the third quarter of this year. He noted that the firm now has seven employees and just under ten customers after raising a $2.3 million pre‑seed round in 2024. Eiken added that the organoids can be used to assess drug safety for the gut or to model disease conditions for compound testing.
How it came about
Intero was founded in 2024 to address the high failure rate of drugs that succeed in animal models but not in humans. The article links this effort to regulatory shifts: in April 2025 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced plans to reduce reliance on animal testing, promoting organoids, organs‑on‑chips and AI‑based models. In March 2026 the FDA issued draft guidance on validating such alternatives, which Intero cites as driving interest in its technology.
Key facts
- Intero Biosystems sells human intestinal organoids called GastroScreen. (techcrunch.com)
- Each organoid is about one millimetre across and is shipped in batches of roughly 100. (techcrunch.com)
- The startup raised a $2.3 million pre‑seed round in 2024 and reported over $400,000 revenue from Q4 2025 to Q3 2026. (techcrunch.com)
- The FDA announced plans in April 2025 and draft guidance in March 2026 to encourage alternatives to animal testing. (techcrunch.com)
Sources
- [1] techcrunch.com — originally reported as “Intero Biosystems wants drugmakers to test on mini human intestines, not animals”
