Labs wanted for alt method prevalidation
This article was originally published in The Rose Sheet
Executive Summary
Institute for Health and Consumer Protection and the European Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods issue a formal request seeking laboratories to participate in prevalidation of three alternative, non-animal methods for skin sensitization testing, assessing reproducibility and preliminary predictive capacity, according to a recent notice. The three alternative strategies are the Direct Peptide Reactivity Assay, the Myeloid U937 Skin Sensitization Test and the Human Cell Line Activation Test. Selected labs will work in close contact with multinational companies and the European Commission Joint Research Center, "test[ing] coded chemicals by adhering to a defined protocol/procedure." The scientific committee of ECVAM has endorsed a number of non-animal tests already, including EpiSkin, a reconstituted human skin model that is a replacement for the rabbit skin irritation test (1"The Rose Sheet" May 7, 2007)