The Contract Research Organisation (CRO), which has been offering Immunotoxicity testing at the pre-clinical and clinical levels for over 10 years, has gone through a period of restructuring in order to gain a stronger presence in the Immunotoxicity market that has undergone rapid growth in the past ten years.
Immune suppression and stimulation, hypersensitivity, photosensitivity, drug-induced autoimmunity and developmental immunotoxicity are the focus of this kind of testing and serves to determine the adverse effects (such as hypersensitivity reactions, unintended immunosuppression or immunostimulation and potentiation of autoimmunity) of substances on the immune system
"We have been in the forefront in the last 10 years, offering methods that are adequately sensitive and specific for known immunosuppressive agents evaluation," said Rosemonde Mandeville, President and CEO of >Biophage Pharma
"If important changes are observed in the Immunotoxicity tests, we can also offer studies to help determine the cell type affected and the mechanism of action," added Mandeville.
Biophage are an established CRO in a field specialising in the development of novel phage-based biosensors for live pathogen diagnostics and cytotoxicity screening.
In spite of laboratory data on the effects of chemicals and drugs on immunologic parameters in laboratory animals, interpreting data from experimental immunotoxicology studies for risk assessment purposes has proved challenging.
This is true when the immunological effects are minimal-to-moderate, as might be expected from inadvertent chemical exposures.
Miguel Retamal, director of the Immunotox Labs division commented: "We are presently preparing an important marketing campaign in order to substantially increase our market share."
"We expanded our core assets and built a strong team that has all the required credentials to carry on routine as well as innovative projects. We are now strategically focused on the Immunotoxicology business."