Cyprotex expands its cutting-edge services
AIM-LISTED North West pharmaceutical company Cyprotex has launched a new state-of-the-art toxicology testing service.
Macclesfield-based Cyprotex – which tests drugs for large pharmaceutical firms – has also added 90 square metres of laboratory space to house its new in vitro toxicology service, branded as Cyprotox.
The move will give Cyprotex the same in vitro toxicology capabilities as those of American company Apredica which it bought for £1m cash and 44.7 million new Cyptrotex shares earlier this month.
Its new facility will specialise in High Content Screening (HCS) technology which is a state-of-the-art proceedure which allows it to determine levels of toxicology more effectively.
Dr Anthony Baxter, Cyprotex’s chief executive, said: “Drug toxicity, and drug-induced liver injury in particular, is a major reason for failures in clinical
trials and for the withdrawal of previously approved drugs from the market.
“Toxicity is the most costly problem in drug development today.
“Identifying potential liabilities at an early stage in drug discovery decreases the likelihood of late-stage failures, and promises to produce the same
magnitude of drug development efficiency improvements that preclinical absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion tests (ADME) have provided.
“Cyprotex’s new toxicology facility complements our existing ADME business, and it aligns the capabilities of our UK facility with those of Apredica’s US facility, which Cyprotex acquired earlier this month.
“The combination of in vitro ADME, in vitro toxicology, and Cyprotex’s proprietary predictive modeling and proprietary CellCiphr technology acquired from Cellumen gives Cyprotex’s customers access to the most extensive and advanced portfolio of early ADME Tox services on the market today.”
Cyprotex saw its pre-tax profits drop 67% in the first half of the year to £50,481 (2009: £156,597) on largely flat sales of £2.48m (£2.45m).
