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Empiriko, Interchim Partner on Mass Spec-based Drug Metabolism Research

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Empiriko will use Interchim's mass spectrometry-based technology to perform drug metabolism studies as part of a partnership between the companies announced today.

Under the terms of the deal, Empiriko will leverage Interchim's PuriFlash MassSpec technology to perform near real-time and cost-effective in vitro and ex vivo studies using Empiriko's Biomimiks technology.

The BioMimiks technology consists of in vitro and ex vivo biomimetic systems that serve as "chemosynthetic livers" to generate and predict metabolic profiles of drugs. The PuriFlash instruments include mass spectrometry for near real-time product separation and structural elucidation of purified compounds.

By leveraging each firm's technologies and expertise, drug developers will be able to predict metabolism patterns, pathways, and profiles, and generate "a complete spectrum of oxidative metabolites for specific drugs … reducing the time for each experiment from weeks to hours," Empiriko and Interchim said.

Researchers will additionally be able to rapidly identify interactions involving metabolite attenuation and suppression, and "evaluate the genotoxicity, drug-to-drug interactions, and efficacy associated with adding a new drug to a patient's drug regimen."

As part of the deal, Empiriko will also provide input to Interchim on the design of future instrumentation for ex vivo studies aimed at personalized patient treatment. Financial and other terms were not disclosed.

"Together we will accelerate the delineation of metabolism profiles, enable prediction and scale-up of products, and offer scientists a valuable tool for rapid separation and quantification of products," Empiriko CSO Mukund Chorghade said in a statement.

Based in Newton, Mass., Empiriko calls itself a "clinical intelligence company" that leverages chemistry-based research and in silico modeling for drug discovery and development.

Interchim, headquartered in France and with a US office in Los Angeles, manufactures and distributes instruments, products, and consumables to the research community and to industry.

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