25 July 2013: Eurofins Scientific (EUFI.PA), the world leader in food, environment and pharmaceutical products testing, has signed an agreement with GE Healthcare for the exclusive right to offer GE Healthcare's Cytiva Cardiomyocytes for drug discovery and early development cardio toxicity screening services.
The agreement allows Eurofins Panlabs to provide a unique offering for an early predictive measure of cardiac toxicity and function in a cost-effective and time-efficient manner compared to current expensive and time-consuming animal testing models. The initial range of cardiotoxicity screening services covered by the exclusive right will be expanded during the term of the agreement. In drug development, up to three quarters of toxicity problems remain undetected until preclinical or later stages. Cardiotoxicity and hepatotoxicity are common causes of drug safety liabilities and withdrawal of drugs during development. The availability of more biologically relevant and predictive assays and cell models is key to helping improve the success rate and reducing the cost of the drug discovery and development process.
GE Healthcare is pioneering the development of human cell-based models such as Cytiva Cardiomyocytes, which provide a biologically relevant alternative to current cell models and primary cells for predictive cardiotoxicity testing.
Comments from Dr. Usha Warrior, Senior Director, Eurofins Panlabs: "This agreement gives us exclusivity in the CRO space to develop new assays for key indicators of cardiotoxicity using Cytiva cells for our clients. It also demonstrates our commitment to continuously developing the portfolio of services we offer to help clients systematically reduce the risk in the drug discovery and development process."
Eric Roman, General Manager of Research and Applied Markets, GE Healthcare Life Sciences, said: "The agreement with Eurofins Panlabs will help realize our vision of bringing the benefits of human cell-based assays and models to pharmaceutical and cell science research. Cardiotoxicity is a common cause of late-stage drug failure, so it's vital that developers have access to the right tools to help reduce this high attrition rate and to help increase patient safety."
For more information, please visit www.eurofinspanlabs.com
Eurofins a global leader in bio-analysis
Eurofins Scientific is the world leader in food and pharmaceutical products testing. It is also number one in the world in the field of environmental laboratory services and one of the global market leaders in agroscience, genomics, discovery pharmacology and central laboratory services. With over 14,000 staff in more than 180 laboratories across 35 countries, Eurofins offers a portfolio of over 100,000 reliable analytical methods for evaluating the safety, identity, composition, authenticity, origin and purity of biological substances and products. The Group provides its customers with high-quality services, accurate results in time and expert advice by its highly qualified staff.
Eurofins is committed to pursuing its dynamic growth strategy by expanding both its technology portfolio and its geographic reach. Through R&D and acquisitions, the Group draws on the latest developments in the field of biotechnology and analytical chemistry to offer its clients unique analytical solutions and the most comprehensive range of testing methods.
As one of the most innovative and quality oriented international players in its industry, Eurofins is ideally positioned to support its clients' increasingly stringent quality and safety standards and the expanding demands of regulatory authorities around the world. The shares of Eurofins Scientific are listed on the NYSE Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (ISIN FR0000038259, Reuters EUFI.PA, Bloomberg ERF FP).
About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services to meet the demand for increased access, enhanced quality and more affordable healthcare around the world. GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter - great people and technologies taking on tough challenges. From medical imaging, software & IT, patient monitoring and diagnostics to drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies and performance improvement solutions, GE Healthcare helps medical professionals deliver great healthcare to their patients.
Contact:
Janet Jennings
Client Services Manager
Eurofins Panlabs Inc
Phone: +1 800 726 5229
Email: [email protected]
Dr Val Jones
Global Media Relations Manager
GE Healthcare
Phone: +44 7917 175 192
Email: [email protected]