131727Evaluation of in-vitro tests to reduce animal testing in drug toxicology studiesClosedFeasibility StudiesInnovate UKTens of thousands of animals are sacrificed every year in the UK during drug toxicity testing; many more worldwide. Toxicity testing is an important part of drug development. Newly discovered molecules are tested, as well as metabolites and new formulations. The tests are generally done on rats, mice and dogs. Many of these tests are not actually done to test toxicity, but in preliminary studies to gather data used to design the final toxicity study. This preliminary data data is used to design fit-for-purpose formulations, mainly for orally-administered drugs. We believe that most preliminary experiments using animals could be replaced by in-vitro tests. In this project, Pfizer will supply data from completed toxicological studies. Sirius will re-create the formulations and run in-vitro experiments to assess physicochemical characteristics and bioavailability. Scientists at the University of Bath will analyse the in-vitro data and look for IVIVC (in-vitro/in-vivo correlation). If the project is able to demonstrate that fit-for-purpose formulations can be assessed using in-vitro experiments, some 50% of animal experiments for testing drug toxicity could be eliminated.