Analysis of Caliper's Phase I EPA ToxCast™ Data Published in Leading Scientific Journal

HOPKINTON, Mass., Feb. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Caliper Life Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: CALP), today announced that the results of its initial screening efforts under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) ToxCast program have been published in the scientific journal Toxicology. Key findings reported include (1) a high level of quality and reproducibility in the dataset allowing for robust statistical analyses, and (2) the role that specific targets in biological pathways could play in toxicity events. These findings underscore the success of the Phase I ToxCast effort and support continued expansion of the program to build predictive models for identifying chemicals with high risk for human toxicity or environmental hazard.  Caliper has recently been awarded three new task orders with an aggregate value of $3.1 million to fund additional activities under the EPA ToxCast program.  

The initial goal of the ToxCast program is to create a database of in vitro (laboratory) assay data on a broad set of compounds for which in vivo (animal) safety data already exists. The Toxicology article covers the first phase of ToxCast data produced by Caliper, which involved more than 93,000 chemical-assay pairs. Caliper has contributed 292 assays, more than half of all of the assays, to the EPA ToxCast program. The long term goal of this program is to identify in vitro assays that can predict toxicity in humans and animals and then employ those predictive tests to supplement or replace existing animal-based tests, thus reducing the cost and improving the speed of regulatory approval of new environmental chemicals.    

The article published in Toxicology (Volume 282, Nos. 1-2, pp. 1-15) is entitled "Activity profiles of 309 ToxCast chemicals evaluated across 292 biochemical targets".  The authors include senior scientific staff from EPA's National Center for Computational Toxicology, as well as Arthur Weissman, Ph.D., who serves as Caliper's Principal Investigator under its contract with the EPA for the ToxCast program.                

"We are pleased with the confirmation of the high quality of our ToxCast data reported in this article, as well as the finding that both previously known and novel targets of signaling pathways potentially involved in toxicity mechanisms were identified. Caliper's LabChip® platform in particular was instrumental in demonstrating some types of both kinase inhibition and kinase activation as possible novel toxicity mechanisms," said David Manyak, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of Caliper. "The new funding commitments from EPA will allow us to generate dose response information for the Phase II screening of 700 additional chemicals now underway, as well support an additional round of compound screening to create more detailed models around specific potential toxicity targets."  

"These results underscore Caliper's strategy to become a leader in personalized medicine tools and CRO services," commented Kevin Hrusovsky, President and Chief Executive Officer.  "As we evolve into companion diagnostics and patient stratification CRO services, we believe our unique ToxCast capability will help identify toxicity biomarkers that have the ability to rescue drugs that had failed due to toxicity but have the ability to be efficacious and safe for a patient population subset.  These data will help us to garner additional interest from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as we build these enabling CRO services."

Caliper will be hosting a webinar at 1:00 pm EST today (Thursday, February 24), at which Dr. Weissman will present an overview of predictive toxicology and safety pharmacology research programs and offerings of Caliper's Discovery Alliances and Services (CDAS) business unit. Please register online at www.caliperLS.com/CDAS.

About Caliper Life Sciences

Caliper Life Sciences is a premier provider of cutting-edge technologies enabling researchers in the life sciences industry to develop life-saving and enhancing medicines and diagnostic tests more quickly and efficiently. Caliper is aggressively innovating new technology to bridge the gap between in vitro assays and in vivo results that translate into potential cures for a range of diseases. Caliper's portfolio of offerings includes state-of-the-art microfluidics, lab automation & liquid handling, molecular imaging technologies, and discovery & development outsourcing solutions. For more information please visit www.caliperLS.com.

NOTE:  Caliper and LabChip are registered trademarks of Caliper Life Sciences, Inc.  ToxCast is a trademark of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

SOURCE Caliper Life Sciences, Inc.

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