Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News reports on early...( NEW ROCHELLE NY May 5 2008Biotech an...),Health

NEW ROCHELLE, NY, May 5, 2008Biotech and pharma companies are increasingly utilizing novel technologies to assess the druggability of test compounds early in the development cycle to avoid costly late clinical-stage attrition, according to Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News (GEN) (http://www.genengnews.com). By identifying absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) issues early, pharma also has the opportunity to increase the probability of success of its new drug development activities and reduce the time to market, reports the May 1 issue of GEN (http://www.genengnews.com/articles/chitem.aspx?aid=2460).

With new drug development costs estimated at over $1 billion, its imperative that biotech and pharma firms use ADMET tools intelligently and as early as possible in the drug discovery and development process to get a better handle on costs, notes John Sterling, Editor-in-Chief, GEN. The intelligent application of ADMET studies could also go a long way to improving clinical trial results.

UCB Pharma, for example, uses a suite of validated assays and protocols to monitor the toxic characteristics of all small molecule compounds in its drug discovery pipeline. The companys in vitro toxicology team relies on cell-based assays to assess the cytotoxic potential of drug candidates using cell lines derived from human and rat hepatocytes.

CeeTox, a contract research organization, also takes a cell-based approach when looking at toxicity potential using a number of different cell models to assess not only hepatocellular-based toxic potential but also cardiotoxicity. The company introduced the use of neonate rat cardiomyocytes cultured in 96-well plates to monitor the potential for cardiotoxicity of a drug candidate.

Other companies covered in the GEN article include Affymetrix, Iconix, So
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