Lhasa Limited Announces the Launch of the Vitic Intermediates Database

LEEDS, England, March 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Lhasa Limited, a leading global supplier of knowledge based software and associated databases, today announces the latest release of the Vitic Intermediates database.

Initiated in 2006, Vitic Intermediates is a cross industry data sharing consortium created and co-ordinated by Lhasa Limited, through the Vitic Nexus platform, supported by ten of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies (including AstraZeneca, Bayer HealthCare, Boehringer Ingelheim, GSK, Hoffman-La Roche, Janssen Pharmaceutica and Novartis).

Members of this consortium share proprietary Ames mutagenicity data for common intermediates and compounds containing functional groups of interest. Regularly updated and currently in its 8^th iteration, this high quality collection of data now contains 1,088 structures with 16,971 associated genetic toxicity in-vitro records.  

The mutagenic status of process intermediates is of paramount importance under the ICH M7 Guideline (Assessment and Control of DNA Reactive [Mutagenic] impurities in Pharmaceuticals to Limit Potential Carcinogenic Risk)^[1]. The high quality Vitic Intermediates database provides real benefits to those participating members and to the wider scientific community. Many process intermediates are common across companies and sharing mutagenicity data on these compounds allows members to avoid duplicating costly and time consuming tests. In addition these proprietary compounds and their associated mutagenicity data allow for the improvement and validation of in silico toxicology prediction systems such as Derek Nexus and Sarah Nexus.

Lhasa Limited was founded on the basis of data and knowledge sharing. Building on its reputation as the eponymous 'honest broker', Lhasa Limited has continued to work on the basis of 'Shared Knowledge, Shared Progress' for more than 30 years. Vitic Intermediates is just one of the many successful consortia in which working with Lhasa makes a real difference to the research and development process of its members.

David Watson, CEO of Lhasa Limited, commented "the fact that the Vitic Intermediates data sharing consortium, initiated by Lhasa, has now entered its 9^th year, and is still growing, is a testament to the tangible benefits of data sharing for all participants. Lhasa Limited is honoured to be repeatedly recognised as the original honest broker and trusted holder of proprietary data".

Dr. Susanne Glowienke, Head of in silico and Impurity Safety at Novartis, said "The value of the Vitic Intermediates data sharing initiative can be seen particularly in the light of the ICH M7 guideline for DNA-reactive impurities. It offers a unique opportunity to exchange mutagenicity data which is not available in the public domain, thus contributing to the identification of mutagenic impurities and avoiding additional internal testing. The ability to perform substructure or similarity searches facilitates read across approaches and supports the required in silico analyses to identify potentially mutagenic impurities."

References:

1.http://www.ich.org/products/guidelines/multidisciplinary/article/multidisciplinary-guidelines.html.

About Lhasa Limited 

Lhasa Limited is a not-for-profit organisation that facilitates collaborative data sharing projects in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and chemistry-related industries. A pioneer in the production of knowledge-based systems for forward thinking scientists, Lhasa limited continues to draw on over thirty years of experience to create user-friendly, state of the art in silico prediction and database systems.

We believe in 'Shared Knowledge, Shared Progress'. Our not-for-profit, member driven status is designed to facilitate collaborative working and confidential data sharing between organisations. We run collaborative projects with industry, academia and regulatory bodies to continually enhance all our products.

Lhasa's products include the Derek Nexus expert system for predicting toxicity, Sarah Nexus, a transparent statistical system for predicting mutagenicity, Vitic Nexus for managing chemical data and information, Meteor Nexus for predicting metabolic fate and Zeneth for predicting forced degradation pathways.

For further information on this consortium and information about how you can join please contact [email protected] or call +44-113-394-6020.

SOURCE Lhasa Limited