The deal – announced earlier today – will see Cyprotex’s Boston, US subsidiary Apredica work with Pfizer on a research-based project that aims “evaluate, further develop, and improve several of Cyprotex’s proprietary offerings in the area of predictive toxicology."
The agreement is split into two stages with the second stage being dependent on certain milestones being achieved.
In a press statement Cyprotex CEO Anthony Baxter,said: “This collaborative research is beneficial for both companies and allows Cyprotex to remain at the forefront of new approaches in toxicology prediction.
“Predicting drug-induced toxicity is a challenging field, and we are making significant advances by combining our knowledge with that of our partners and clients.”
Company COO Mark Warburton was similarly positive about the Pfizer deal, telling Outsourcing-pharma.com that while he couldn’t comment on the specifics the agreement is “an endorsement of what we’ve got and what we do.”
Predictive tox
Cyprotex’s core business is the provision of predictive absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) and toxicology, focused on in vitro laboratory testing and in silico computer modelling.
The firm is a keen and vocal advocate of in vitro testing, both as a way of improving the quality of drug safety assessments and from a business perspective.
Baxter told us earlier this year that: “Bigger CROs are stuck in the time warp of traditional toxicology testing – 28 day studies in rats etc. – but thedrug industry has gone for more predictive cellular models like cardio tox and hepatotox, and Cyprotex has been a beneficiary of this.”
The deal with Pfizer lends further support to Baxter’s arguments.
N+1 Singer analyst Shawn Manning welcomed the announcement and suggested the deal reflected the positive impact that technologies launched in recent months were having on the preclinical contract research organisation’s (CRO) business.
“The agreement with Pfizer provides a strong validation of Cyprotex’ growing presence in predictive toxicology, which includes the high-content toxicology offering CellCiphr Premier, which was launched by Cyprotex in September.”