Launch of in vitro h-CLAT Service

29th November 2016

Cyprotex PLC

Launch of in vitro h-CLAT Service for assessing skin sensitisation

Cyprotex PLC (AIM:CRX), a specialist ADME-Tox Contract Research Organisation (CRO), today announces the launch of h-CLAT (human Cell Line Activation Test), an in vitro service for determining skin sensitisation potential. Cyprotex have developed this test in response to the recently released OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) test guideline 442E.

The European Union, along with many other countries throughout the world, have now implemented a complete ban on animal testing within the cosmetics industry. Furthermore, within the chemical testing industry, animal testing is now only recommended as a last resort where no suitable alternatives are available. This change in legislation has driven the development and validation of in silico and in vitro methods which are now being introduced to replace the animal methods. One example of where this has been successful is in the case of skin sensitisation where the mechanism leading to the adverse effect has been well characterised. This is defined within an Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) which details the biological processes leading to the initiation of skin sensitisation.

A number of in vitro tests have now been developed which analyse the key events within the AOP and determine if a substance is expected to be a skin sensitiser. These tests include the Direct Protein Reactivity Assay (DPRA) which identifies if the substance reacts with proteins (Key Event 1 in the AOP), the KeratinoSensTM assay which determines gene activation within human skin cells (Key Event 2 in the AOP) and h-CLAT which detects cell surface marker expression in human immune cells (Key Event 3 in the AOP). Cyprotex is one of the few companies which can now offer all three of these in vitro tests.

Cyprotex's Chief Executive Officer, Dr Anthony Baxter, said, 'Cyprotex have specialist expertise in the field of in vitro skin-based tests, and offer a comprehensive panel of regulatory tests for assessing skin irritation, skin corrosion, skin sensitisation, skin absorption and phototoxicity. By introducing h-CLAT alongside our existing DPRA and KeratinoSensTM tests, we are meeting the needs of our clients within the cosmetics, personal care and chemical industries for non-animal in vitro alternatives according to current recommended practices for skin sensitisation testing.'

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About Cyprotex PLC

Cyprotex is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (CRX). It has sites at Macclesfield and Alderley Park, both of which are near Manchester in the UK, and at Watertown, MA and Kalamazoo, MI in the US. The Company was established in 1999 and works with more than 1500 partners within the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, cosmetics and personal care industry and the chemical industry. Cyprotex acquired Apredica and the assets of Cellumen Inc. in August 2010 and the combined business provides support for a wide range of experimental and computational ADME-Tox and PK services. The acquisition of the assets and business of CeeTox in January 2014 has enabled Cyprotex to expand its range of services to target the personal care, cosmetics and chemical industries. In 2015, Cyprotex launched its new bioscience division to expand its capabilities into phenotypic and target based screening. The Company's core capabilities include high quality in vitro ADME services, mechanistic toxicology and high content toxicology screening services, including our proprietary CellCiphr® toxicity prediction technology, bioscience services, predictive modelling solutions including Cloe® PK, chemPK™, chemTarget, chemTox and DDI-Fusion, and a range of skin, ocular and endocrine disruption services. For more information, please visit www.cyprotex.com.