NMJ Care

NMJ Care is a biotechnology spin-off project developing the first scalable, human-specific neuromuscular junction (NMJ) platform for predictive drug discovery and disease modeling. Built on patented 2.5D induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-based technology, the platform recreates the complex nerve-to-muscle connection that is critical in neuromuscular diseases.

By combining the scalability of 2D systems with the physiological relevance of 3D tissue organization, NMJ Care enables automated, high-throughput screening with functional human-relevant readouts such as muscle contraction and NMJ integrity. The platform supports personalized disease modeling, long-term culture stability, and scalable automation workflows compatible with pharmaceutical and biotech drug discovery pipelines.

NMJ Care’s mission is to accelerate the development of effective therapies for neuromuscular diseases by replacing inadequate preclinical models with predictive human-based systems.

The Problem

Neuromuscular diseases (NMDs), including spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), affect millions of patients worldwide, yet the vast majority of these diseases still have no cure.

Current preclinical drug discovery models rely heavily on animal testing and simplistic cell culture systems that fail to replicate the complexity of the human neuromuscular junction. As a result:

Approximately 90% of drug candidates fail during development.
Existing models have poor predictive power for human responses.
Drug discovery timelines are slow and expensive.
Many therapies fail to address disease-relevant functional outcomes.

Personalized approaches for rare neuromuscular diseases remain limited.

The lack of scalable, physiologically relevant human models creates a major bottleneck in therapeutic development for neuromuscular diseases.

The Solution

NMJCare provides a scalable, automation-ready human neuromuscular junction platform designed specifically for predictive drug discovery and disease modeling.

Key advantages of the NMJ Care platform include:

Human-specific multicellular NMJ systems containing muscle fibers, motor neurons, glia cells, fibroblasts, and muscle stem cells.
Patented 2.5D architecture that bridges the gap between conventional 2D assays and complex 3D organoids.
Functional disease-relevant readouts including muscle contraction, NMJ formation, neuronal survival, and toxicity analysis.
Compatibility with automated robotic workflows and high-throughput screening in 96- and 384-well formats.
Long-term culture stability for chronic efficacy and toxicity studies.
Personalized disease modeling using patient-derived iPSCs.