Cyprotex launches new in vitro toxicology service

Cyprotex PLC (LSE:CRX), the preclinical ADME Tox services company, today announces the launch of its new in vitro toxicology service, branded as Cyprotox(R). Supporting the new service is an additional 90 square metres of laboratory space at Cyprotex's Macclesfield, UK facility housing the latest technology in multi-parametric automated fluorescent imaging and cellular analysis. This gives Cyprotex's Macclesfield site the same in vitro toxicology capabilities as those of Apredica (Watertown, MA, USA), which Cyprotex acquired on 6 August 2010.

The new facility includes a Thermo Scientific Cellomics ArrayScan(R) VTI HCS Reader, which complements the four Cellomics HCS instruments used at Apredica. The ArrayScan(R) utilises High Content Screening (HCS) technology to determine multi-parametric indicators of toxicity. HCS is a recent breakthrough for early toxicology assessment. It has been extensively validated, and is now being adopted throughout the pharmaceutical industry.

In addition to HCS, the new facility offers many other services to assess toxicity, including:

Dr Anthony Baxter, Cyprotex's Chief Executive Officer, comments on the launch of the new toxicology facility.

"Drug toxicity, and drug-induced liver injury in particular, is a major reason for failures in clinical trials and for the withdrawal of previously approved drugs from the market. Toxicity is the most costly problem in drug development today. Identifying potential liabilities at an early stage in drug discovery decreases the likelihood of late-stage failures, and promises to produce the same magnitude of drug development efficiency improvements that preclinical ADME has provided.

"Cyprotex's new toxicology facility complements our existing ADME business, and it aligns the capabilities of our UK facility with those of Apredica's US facility, which Cyprotex acquired earlier this month. The combination of in vitro ADME, in vitro toxicology, and Cyprotex's proprietary predictive modeling and proprietary CellCiphr(TM) technology acquired from Cellumen gives Cyprotex's customers access to the most extensive and advanced portfolio of early ADME Tox services on the market today."

SOURCE Cyprotex PLC