NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Metabolomics firm Stemina said on Thursday the US Environmental Protection Agency has awarded the firm a contract to use its technology to screen drugs and chemicals that potentially may cause birth defects.
The contract was awarded to Stemina under the EPA's ToxCast initiative and will generate up to $10.6 million in revenues for the Madison, Wis.-based firm during the next five years, Stemina said. It will use its devTox toxicology tests to screen drugs and chemicals for their potential to cause birth defects if a woman is exposed to them during pregnancy.
Stemina's cell-based tests combine stem cell technologies with metabolomic technologies.
ToxCast was launched in 2007 by the EPA and uses high-throughput screening assays to expose living cells or isolated proteins to chemicals, which are then screened for changes in biological activity that may be indicative of toxic effects.