September 2020

IIVS e-News – October 2020

September 28, 2020
IIVS is pleased to announce that Allison Hilberer will participate in the OECD Test Guidelines Programme Expert Groups (OECD TG EG) for eye and skin irritation, phototoxicity and skin sensitization. Allison is a Toxicologist II and Study Director at IIVS where she oversees the conduct of in vitrostudies in these areas. Allison has also been involved in many validation programs and participated in efforts to draft and revise OECD Test Guidelines. Read Post...

IIVS, RIFM and Shiseido Partner to Transfer Non-animal Photosafety Tests

July 14, 2020
The Institute for In Vitro Sciences (IIVS) has entered into an agreement with Shiseido and the Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM) to support the technology transfer of non-animal tests for photosafety testing. The program aims to build upon IIVS’ current photosafety tiered testing program, which addresses photoirritation, through the development of additional testing strategies to identify photoallergens. Both photoirritation and photoallergenicity are important in the safety assessment of fragrances. RIFM, Shiseido, and IIVS share the common goal of promoting the...

IIVS’ Outreach Program for Non-animal Test Methods Supported by Chinese Cosmetic Company

June 22, 2020
June 23, 2020, Gaithersburg, MD - US based non-profit Institute for In Vitro Sciences Inc. (IIVS) has received its first funding from a Chinese owned and operated beauty tech company, Shenzhen Basixing Technology Co., Ltd. The occasion is significant as it demonstrates the growing desire for non-animal test methods in China and the importance of the IIVS program to help implement them. Shenzhen Basixing Technology (Shenzhen, China) focuses on the application of new technologies in both beauty care products and devices....

Webinar : Use of Non-animal Skin Sensitization Methods

June 3, 2020
A recorded webinar on the "Use of Non-animal Skin Sensitization Methods" by IIVS’s Hans Raabe and US EPA's Gino Scarano and James Cox is now available for viewing at https://www.piscltd.org.uk/nam-webinars/. The webinar reviews the status of Non-Animal methods acceptance of skin sensitization testing within the EPA framework as well as an overview of several assays that can be used to evaluate this endpoint. Slides of the presentation are also available for download as well....

Services and Tools for COVID-19 Drug Development

May 21, 2020
IIVS provides robust test systems and assays to detect the adverse effects of diverse materials, including pharmaceuticals targeting COVID-19. The IIVS Respiratory Toxicology Program offers testing services using cutting edge 3D pulmonary models - in addition to human 2D primary cells and lines - such as reconstructed human airways and human precision-cut human lung slices (hPCLS) that contain multiple cell types including immune competent macrophages. These systems, combined with our advanced exposure techniques, allow the detection of acute toxic responses...

Respiratory Toxicology for Pharmaceutical Development

May 6, 2020
The Institute for In Vitro Sciences (IIVS) provides robust test systems and assays to detect the adverse effects of diverse materials, including pharmaceuticals targeting COVID-19. The IIVS Respiratory Toxicology Program offers testing services using cutting edge 3D pulmonary models - in addition to human 2D primary cells and lines - such as reconstructed human airways and precision-cut human lung slices that contain multiple cell types including immune competent macrophages. These systems allow the detection of acute toxic responses such as...

FDA Releases New Guidance Recommending Alternatives to LLNA

April 22, 2020
FDA releases new guidance recommending the performance of alternative test methodologies in lieu of the murine-based Local Lymph Node Assay (LLNA) to assess skin sensitization potential for topically-applied drug products. This information can be found at https://www.fda.gov/media/135312/download, pages 7-8. IIVS offers multiple assays and provides guidance to companies and organizations interested in using non-animal approaches to evaluate this endpoint. Learn more about our skin sensitization testing capabilities at https://iivs.org/testing-services/assays/sensitization/ or contact us at clientservices@iivs.org....

Phototox and BCOP Russian Translations

February 25, 2020
IIVS, in collaboration with EPAA, is pleased to announce that our training videos for eye irritation and phototoxicity are now available with Russian subtitles. To view subtitled versions in different languages including Chinese, Portuguese and Spanish, please visit our YouTube channel. ...

2020 SOT Enhancement of Animal Welfare Award Announced

January 23, 2020
IIVS offers our congratulations to Kristie Sullivan, Vice President for Research Policy with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, who has been awarded the 2020 SOT Enhancement of Animal Welfare Award by the Society of Toxicology for "her influence in advancing science and policy to reduce or replace the use of animals in testing without compromising public health". Kristie is a frequent collaborator with IIVS in our joint mission to replace animal testing with new approach methodologies and we are pleased...