Drug discovery alliance 'plugs a growing gap' in pharma's drug safety capabilities, says co-founder

By Melissa Fassbender

- Last updated on GMT

(Image: iStock/ernardaSv)
(Image: iStock/ernardaSv)

Related tags Pharmacology Drug discovery

ApconiX and PhysioStim have joined forces to create a European center of excellence for preclinical cardiovascular safety evaluation.

The preclinical safety companies have different but complementary expertise in cardiovascular testing for drug discovery and development projects, Dr. Michael Morton co-founder and director at ApconiX told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.

Bringing this expertise together under one team of scientists plugs a growing gap in pharma companies' knowledge and capability in drug safety​,” he said.

Through the alliance, the companies will provide high-throughput ion channel screening and cardiovascular safety testing models as one collaborative team.

This is about creating a European center of excellence in pre-clinical cardiovascular safety testing which, for the pharma industry, means better data and data interpretation for their drug discovery projects​,” explained Morton.

We want to ensure pharma business' development projects are identifying the safest compounds to progress in terms of their cardiovascular toxicity​.”

Addressing the high failure rate in drug development

As Morton explained, evidence suggests that drugs fail in development because of toxicity, not because they don’t work therapeutically – an issue which he said the alliance will help address.

ApconiX and PhysioStim will help pharma companies understand the potential toxicity of compounds earlier in the drug discovery process, said Morton.

Currently, the necessary level of understanding and interpretation of safety data is often lacking in projects, which can ultimately lead to project closure​,” he added.

Cardiovascular toxicity is the primary, safety-related cause of failure in drug development, so our alliance will eliminate potentially toxic compounds at an early stage while helping companies focus on targets that are more likely to be successful​.”

The companies will share the marketing and financial returns of the alliance.

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