BioSeek and US EPA Expand ToxCastT Collaboration (3782W)
January 30 2012 - 9:30AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMATD
RNS Number : 3782W
Asterand PLC
30 January 2012
Asterand Subsidiary BioSeek and US EPA Expand ToxCast(TM)
Collaboration
BioSeek's BioMAP(R) Systems Platform Used to Predict Toxicity of
Environmental and Other Compounds on Human Health
Detroit, MI (January 30 2012):Asterand plc (LSE: ATD) today
announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has
expanded its collaboration and Phase II funding commitment with
Asterand's subsidiary BioSeek LLC. Under the EPA ToxCast(TM)
screening program, BioSeek is employing its unique BioMAP(R)
Systems human primary cell assay platform to predict the biological
activity and potential toxicity of environmental and other
chemicals on human health. The new agreement provides $696,000 in
additional funding for BioSeek and adds a further 100 compounds to
the more than 1000 environmental compounds, pesticides, failed
pharmaceuticals, and nanomaterials already analyzed using BioMAP
Systems in this ongoing effort.
"Through our work with EPA, BioMAP is yielding a rich harvest of
biological information on a wide variety of environmental and other
chemicals and their potential effects on human health," said Ellen
Berg, Ph.D., General Manager of BioSeek. "The long-term goal of the
ToxCast(TM) program is to establish in vitro assays that can
forecast the toxicity of chemical compounds and other materials in
humans and animals, and several of our primary human cell assays
are contributing to predictive models in this effort."
"As later phases of the ToxCast program include a variety of
pharmaceutical compounds," Dr. Berg continued, "our proprietary
BioMAP compound database is gaining a rich dataset for mining with
our pharmaceutical partners, to help understand the activities and
potential safety of their own compounds in the context of human
biology. Such insights can then be applied to better prioritize
compounds in development prior to undertaking costly human clinical
trials."
"We commend EPA's efforts to develop superior techniques for
predicting the potential health risks of environmental chemicals
through its ToxCast program," said Jack Davis, Chairman and Interim
Chief Executive Officer of Asterand plc. "We look forward to
continuing our support of the EPA in this endeavour."
About BioMAP
BioSeek's proprietary BioMAP technology platform bridges the gap
between in vitro and in vivo testing and connects primary human
cell-based assay data to clinically relevant results. Compounds
tested in BioMAP Assay Systems generate biological activity
profiles that are compared to those of thousands of
well-characterized agents in our proprietary BioMAP database, using
a variety of predictive computational analyses. BioMAP Assay
Systems are physiologically relevant and concurrently provide
multifactorial readouts relevant to compound efficacy and safety.
Thus, a compound's detected activities effectively preview in vivo
results and forecast potential clinical outcomes. The BioMAP
technology platform is consistently reproducible within and between
assays, is high throughput, and supports drug discovery programs
from library screening to lead optimization and candidate
selection. For more information on BioMAP, please visit our website
at http://www.bioseekinc.com/.
About Asterand
Asterand plc is a leading supplier of high quality human tissue
and tissue-based services. Our comprehensive approach to human
tissue and research services offers pharmaceutical, biotech and
diagnostic companies the unique opportunity to have one company
meet all of their human biomaterial needs along the continuum of
drug discovery and development. BioSeek LLC, a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Asterand plc, is improving the success rate of
pharmaceutical research and development by integrating human
biology from the earliest stages of drug discovery onward through
its unique BioMAP(R) predictive human-based models. Our mission is
to accelerate target discovery and drug compound validation and
enable our clients to take safer and more effective drugs into the
market.
For more information about Asterand and BioSeek, please visit
http://www.asterand.com
About the US EPA ToxCastTM Program
The U.S. EPA ToxCast(TM) Program is developing approaches to
predict chemical toxicity using data from high-throughput and high
content in vitro assays. The goal of ToxCast(TM) is to develop and
verify "toxicity signatures," which are algorithms using in vitro
and in silico data to predict in vivo toxicities. Phase I of
ToxCast(TM) has produced data from >300 chemicals, 500 in vitro
assays and 100 in vivo endpoints, providing a powerful dataset for
evaluating the applicability of various analytic approaches for
predicting the potential for an adverse response. The initial
results from Phase I of the ToxCast(TM) program were presented on
May 14-15, 2009 at the First ToxCast(TM) Data Analysis Summit held
in Research Triangle Park, NC. Phase II of the ToxCast(TM) program
will expand on and verify the ability of this approach to predict
potential human toxicity. In Phase III, ToxCast(TM) will expand the
list to thousands of environmental chemicals, delivering an
affordable, science-based system for decision-makers to prioritize
chemicals for more detailed toxicological evaluations.
- END -
Contacts:
BioSeek LLC
Ivan Plavec, VP Business Development Tel: +1 (650) 416 7629
Asterand plc
Jack Davis, Chairman and
Interim Chief Executive Officer Tel: + 44 (0) 1763 211 600 /
+ 1 (313) 263-0960
Buchanan Communications
Lisa Baderoon / Mark Court / Isabel Podda Tel: +44 (0) 20 7466 5000
Daniel Stewart & Company plc
Antony Legge Tel: +44 (0) 20 7776 6550
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
MSCBMMMTMBJJBRT
Bioseek (LSE:ATD)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Bioseek (LSE:ATD)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024