Predictive toxicology in drug discovery--second international conference. New technologies for predicting toxic responses at an early stage. 10-11 November 1999, New Orleans, LA, USA.
This meeting focused on the problems facing the pharmaceutical industry, given the need for faster and higher throughput toxicity testing, and how emerging technologies are being applied to address this need. Inevitably, the emphasis was on in vitro approaches, in particular, genomics-based technology such as transcript profiling, but due attention was paid to the necessity of relating in vitro-derived data to toxic endpoints in vivo. A number of technology-providing companies were given the opportunity to draw attention to their proprietary systems and explain how they might be applied to drug safety assessment. Finally, a session was devoted to a discussion of available 'in silico' systems and how these are being developed and refined as the need for computer-based screening increases.
Tugwood
J
J
AstraZeneca plc, 24D Mereside, Alderley Park, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK10 4TF, UK. jonathan.tugwood@astrazeneca.com