Caliper to offer new "in vitro-in vivo bridge" solution
by launching a new drug discovery and development services business
- created from the integration of two companies it recently bought
- in a bid to offer a "in vitro-in vivo bridge" (I-I bridge)
solution to pharma companies that could help them reduce
development costs.
The newly-formed services organisation, dubbed Caliper Discovery Alliances and Services (CDAS), is the result of the integration of in vitro services provider NovaScreen - acquired in 2005 - and in vivo services provider Xenogen Biosciences - bought by Caliper last August.
Caliper has assembled a wide range of in vitro and in vivo products and services that allow pharma companies to reduce costs while increasing the pace and clinical relevance of drug research.
In vitro testing involves investigating the drug in cells in a test tube; in vivo studies investigate the drug in living organisms.
Outsourcing these studies at the preclinical level is popular with drug firms because it frees up precious in-house resources - it is estimated that a massive 5,000 drug compounds need to be investigated for every one successful drug that reaches the market.
Caliper said its strategy is to provide its customers with the tools for building an I-I bridge to address the growing pressure on the pharmaceutical industry to find new, effective drugs while minimising the risk of adverse effects of those drugs.
"The launch of CDAS is one in a series of practical solutions that Caliper is offering the pharmaceutical industry, with the goal of reducing attrition of drug candidates as they move from in vitro to in vivo experiments," said Kevin Hrusovsky, president and CEO of Caliper.
"By building the I-I bridge in the context of a services offering, we are providing scientists a way to explore new approaches to drug discovery with minimal resource commitment."
According to the company, immunology research is one therapeutic area where CDAS offers assays that span the I-I bridge.
In practice, a client's compound can be tested in vitro, using cell-based assays, and the same cell-based models have been incorporated into mice, so that in vivo studies can be performed.
The firm claims that by using the same cell model both in vitro and in vivo, scientists can better correlate the sets of results.
"The demand for outsourced drug discovery services is growing rapidly as companies increasingly recognise the critical need for comprehensive characterisation of potential safety or side effect liabilities of their drug candidates," said David Manyak, executive vice president of discovery services of Caliper Life Sciences and head of CDAS.
"We are excited to now be one of the few providers focused on offering services that span in vitro and in vivo experimentation, and look forward to working in partnership with our customers to help them bring safe and effective new drugs to market."
