FDA to Collaborate with ACD/Labs to Develop Predictive QSAR Models

Toronto, Canada (Nov. 4, 2010)—Advanced Chemistry Development, Inc., (ACD/Labs) announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and ACD/Labs will work together in a five-year research collaboration to develop quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) toxicity models for FDA regulatory and research applications. Under this collaborative agreement, the FDA will provide non-proprietary toxicology data for the following toxicological endpoints: carcinogenicity, genetic toxicity, reproductive toxicity, and developmental toxicity. The ACD/Labs’ Algorithm Builder program will be used to construct and validate QSAR models, and these models will be incorporated into ACD/Tox Suite, ACD/ADME Suite, and ACD/PhysChem Suite software. These software programs will be used to provide critical decision support information on the safety of substances in pre- and post-market evaluations by FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN). Under this agreement, ACD/Labs will have the right to commercialize QSAR models that are developed from this collaboration.

“We are excited to work with the FDA on this project,” said Tim Blacker, Director of Business Development and Strategic Alliances at ACD/Labs. “This effort will leverage the combined expertise of scientists at both ACD/Labs and the FDA to produce software that will provide value to the FDA and to the safety of the wider community in general.”

As part of this agreement, results of this collaboration will be made available to the public via publications and presentations.

About ACD/Labs—Founded in 1994, Advanced Chemistry Development, Inc., (ACD/Labs) has since supplied hundreds of industrial companies and academic organizations worldwide with software to speed research. Our solutions include fast and accurate prediction of molecular ADME/Tox and physical properties, property-based structure design, metabolite identification, analytical data processing and interpretation, chemical nomenclature, and chemical databasing. ACD/Labs is committed to ongoing development and improvement of its products, constantly improving the accuracy and usability of existing functionality, while also delivering exciting and innovative new capabilities aimed at solving customers’ challenges.  http://www.acdlabs.com/