ADMETRx, a contract research organization that provides in vitro ADME testing support, this week announced a strategic partnership with CeeTox, a CRO that uses in vitro models to predict toxicity.
The alliance is meant to help pharmaceutical and biotech companies improve their drug-discovery decision-making capabilities, a CeeTox official told CBA News.
In the future, CeeTox "would like to build new services with ADMETRx and begin to co-market them," according to a CeeTox official, who did not elaborate.
CeeTox tests new drugs and chemicals for adverse effects or toxicity using in vitro cell-based models combined with biochemical and molecular endpoints that provide a picture of general cell health, James McKim, founder and CSO of CeeTox, said this week. The results also often allow company researchers to determine the mechanism of the adverse effect.
ADMETRx, on the other hand, has "analytical capabilities that CeeTox does not possess," McKim said. Also, CeeTox and ADMETRx call on many of the same customers. As a result, the firms decided to work together to offer customers "a broader range of services and consulting expertise."
CeeTox technology is based on the development and validation of in vitro methods for identifying adverse effects by using cellular models to predict toxicity both in animals and humans. This greatly reduces the cost to pharmaceutical companies, which would otherwise be required to test all potential drug candidates in animals — an expensive and time-consuming endeavor that often yields incorrect information.
CeeTox' in vitro models identify those compounds that have the highest probability of success in the animal and clinical safety studies required by the US Food and Drug Administration, said McKim.
According to CeeTox' website, the company's services include the CTox panel, an acute toxicity screen, a drug-drug interaction toxicity screen, a CardioTox panel, a DermoTox skin toxicity panel, an AcuteOralTox-LD50 panel, an OcuTox panel, an endocrine disruption screen, and a SenCeeTox panel for skin sensitization.
The CTox panel consists of nine different standard assays that measure biochemical processes that are important for cell health. Each assay is performed using exposure concentrations ranging from 1 to 300 µM.
ADMETRx provides its clients with services that include prioritizing and interpreting pharmacokinetics; central nervous-system penetration; drug-drug interactions; drug delivery and formulation; and ADME analysis, according to its website
McKim said that over the next two to three years, CeeTox will focus on providing new services that support pharmaceutical drug discovery, and providing services that support the chemical and personal-care industries.
Both companies are located in the Western Michigan University Business Technology and Research Park in Kalamazoo, and for its part, CeeTox has "no plans to move at this time," McKim said.
ADMETRx did not respond to request for comment in time for this publication.