The Caliper Discovery Alliances and Services (CDAS) unit has received a funding commitment under its contract with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the Toxcast screening programme.
The long-term goal of the EPA's Toxcast programme is to identify in-vitro assays that can predict the toxicity of chemical compounds in humans and animals by comparing the results of in-vitro testing conducted by Caliper and others with the toxicity data in the EPA's ToxrefDB in-vivo toxicity database.
These predictive tests will then be employed to supplement or replace existing animal-based tests, reducing cost and improving the speed of the regulatory approval of new environmental chemicals.
David Manyak, executive vice-president of drug discovery services, said: 'Phase II of the Toxcast programme will involve screening another 700 environmental compounds through a wide set of assays.
'We expect to begin the Phase II effort within the next several months after the Phase II compound library is delivered to us by the EPA,' he added.
