SenzaGen expands services within in vitro skin toxicology

Due to market demand, and as a complement to the company’s innovative GARD® test platform for skin and respiratory allergies, SenzaGen is expanding its service offerings with in vitro tests for irritation and corrosion beginning July 1, 2021. SenzaGen will now provide customers with a wider range of tests in additional areas of non-animal skin toxicology, thus strengthening the company’s overall market position in in vitro skin toxicology testing.

Demand for contract research services for non-animal skin toxicological testing is growing in SenzaGen’s target markets. To meet customer requests and needs, the company is now expanding its testing services beyond skin sensitization to include irritation and corrosion as part of a broader risk assessment of customers’ substances. The testing and assessment of toxicity and potential risk of chemicals, drug candidates, and medical devices is a requirement for a variety product development benchmarks, including regulatory filings.

“We very much welcome that the market wants to perform more high-quality tests with the company,” says Axel Sjöblad, CEO of SenzaGen. “With an expanded range of tests, we further strengthen our position and meet our customers’ needs in a growing market. At the same time, we are increasing our competitiveness as one of the Nordic region’s few GLP-certified contract laboratories for cell-based toxicology tests. The expansion is part of our commercialization strategy and in line with our mission to offer best-in-class alternatives to animal testing across a variety of test areas. As early as the fall of 2021, we intend to again further expand the range of our testing services,” he says.

SenzaGen’s high-tech lab in Lund, Sweden serves as the company’s hub for customer studies, research, and product development. On behalf of customers, the lab currently performs in vitro toxicology testing using the GARD assay to evaluate the skin and respiratory sensitization potential and risk of various test items, with an expertise in substances traditionally considered difficult-to-test. This testing is critical for companies developing products in a variety of industries to provide safe, sustainable products and create better production environments for their employees, all while reducing the number of animals used in experimentation.

Skin sensitization, combined with irritation and corrosion, is one of ten subsegments of in vitro toxicology testing and accounts for approximately 5.5% of the current total market. This segment, in particular, is also growing the fastest with 9.5% growth annually and is expected to be valued at approximately SEK 5 billion by 2023, according to the 2018 report “In Vitro Toxicology” by Kalorama Information. SenzaGen’s service expansion looks to build upon this growth and meet the increasing needs of product developers and regulatory bodies alike.