US EPA contracts Stemina for toxicology tests

Stemina Biomarker Discovery, a company whose cell-based tests combine stem cells and metabolomics, has been awarded a contract by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under its ToxCast initiative.

ToxCast is a multiyear effort, launched in 2007, which uses automated chemical screening technologies (high-throughput screening assays) to expose living cells or isolated proteins to chemicals. The cells or proteins are then screened for changes in biological activity that may suggest potential toxic effects and eventually potential adverse health effects.

Under the ToxCast contract, Stemina will screen drugs and chemicals, using its devTOX toxicology tests, for their potential to cause birth defects if a woman is exposed during pregnancy. The contract will generate up to $10,637,000 in revenue for the company over the next five years.

Elizabeth Donley, CEO of Stemina, praised ToxCast as “the pre-eminent collection of toxicology information on a broad range of chemicals”. She said Stemina is “the only provider of an all-human system designed to assess the potential for drugs and chemicals to cause birth defects” and that the company’s tests will “provide valuable information about the impact that various classes of compounds can have on the developing human embryo”.

ToxCast has so far evaluated over 2000 chemicals from a broad range of sources, including industrial and consumer products, food additives and potentially ‘green’ chemicals.

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