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A new approach to drug development is taking shape at Revalia Bio, a biotech company using real human organs to test experimental medicines. Reported in the company’s recent announcement, the Human Data Trials platform revives donated but non-transplantable organs, keeping them functional under clinical conditions. This method integrates organ-level data with donor histories and digital analytics, offering drug developers early insights into safety, efficacy, and biological mechanisms. The aim is to tackle one of the industry’s biggest problems: more than 90% of drugs fail before market approval, largely because results from animal and lab models do not translate well to human biology.
Revalia’s leadership highlights that this organ-based testing could cut down on trial failures, costs, and risks to living patients. CEO Greg Tietjen, formerly of Yale’s perfusion science lab, described it as a way to “replace approximations with real human data,” while Chief Scientific Officer Jenna DiRito emphasized the potential to unlock direct insights into diseases such as cancer and organ failure. The company positions donated organs as a vital bridge between preclinical studies and patient trials, transforming losses into opportunities for medical progress.
Since its launch in 2023, Revalia has signed partnerships with two major pharmaceutical companies, built human disease models, and demonstrated extended viability of perfused organs such as kidneys. Its collaborations with medical centers and procurement groups ensure that families can choose to donate non-transplantable organs for research, giving each organ the potential to contribute to multiple studies.
Backed by $14.5 million in new seed funding, co-led by America’s Frontier Fund and Sierra Ventures, Revalia plans to scale up its infrastructure and partnerships. Supporters see the platform as more than a drug testing tool: a shift toward medicine grounded in real human data rather than animal models, potentially transforming how treatments are developed and how human biology is understood.
