Cyprotex hopes Ceetox's rep will expand its cosmetics footprint

02-Jan-2014 - Last updated on 02-Jan-2014 at 16:35 GMT

Alternative assay specialist Ceetox has been acquired by contract researcher Cyprotex in the hope that it will help the company to expand its footprint in the cosmetics industry.

The organization has been looking to offer a more complete assay and screening service to the sector for some time now and believes this world-respected in vitro toxicology specialist will ultimately expand its footprint from its core pharmaceutical and agrochemical markets.

According to Cyprotex CEO Anthony Baxter, the innovative assays and screens that CeeTox has developed over its 10-year life will be complementary to its existing platform.

"In particular, we are excited by the potential for selling the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Programme (EDSP) service to both current Government agency customers and to industrial chemical companies," he explains.

Market analysts have reported the initial consideration for the purchase of £0.63m ($103m) as being funded by internal cash resources, with a further consideration of 5% payable on specified net sales achieved in the next four years to a maximum of £3.1m ($5m).

Cyprotex plans to continue to operate the business' Kalamazoo location for now, but will ultimately relocate back to its own US base in Watertown, MA.

Ceetox at the heart of cosmetic alternative assay developments

CeeTox’s work in skin sensitization assays has stretched over a decade and its toxicologists have played an intricate part in assisting cosmetic brands to make the transition from animal testing to that of in-vitro alternatives.

Since 2003, the company has introduced industry staples like the ‘SenCeeTox assay’ a unique test that can determine chemicals according to their potency and the Cosmetics Products Panel or ‘C2P2’ which offers cosmetic finished goods and ingredients manufacturers a fast and affordable way to assess the risk in finished products.

Although the focus on validating and developing internal data sets has been mainly in Europe in recent years, CEO Jim McKim told Cosmetics Design in a recent interview that his scientists were still working with the US industry to improve safety testing strategies by using human based cell models and relevant end points.

However; he stressed that; “We’re not trying to predict whether the chemical will injure a rat, we’re trying to predict whether it’s safe for humans and that’s a huge paradigm shift for the industry.”