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Toxicology Services for Drug Discovery
Identify safety liabilities earlier, reduce risk and progress better drug candidates with confidence
Why is early toxicology critical for drug discovery?
Preclinical toxicology studies are an essential part of drug development, identifying any adverse effects on living organisms. Understanding and identifying potential safety liabilities early is critical to the success of any drug development program, enabling you to make better development decisions, reduce program risk, and avoid costly late-stage failures.
Our integrated toxicology services provide predictive in vitro and preclinical testing solutions to evaluate potential toxicological liabilities across key biological systems, giving you the data needed to confidently prioritize compounds and optimize your drug discovery strategy.
Working as an extension of your team our multidisciplinary team of toxicologists, scientists, and study directors, design tailored toxicology programs aligned to your therapeutic area, modality, and development goals.
Why toxicology matters
Safety-related failures remain one of the leading causes of drug attrition. Identifying toxicity risks early enables better compound selection, faster optimization and improved resource allocation.
Our integrated preclinical toxicology studies are essential for:
- Identifying potential safety risks before clinical development.
- Determining appropriate dose ranges.
- Understanding mechanisms of toxicity.
- Reducing costly late-stage failures.
- Supporting regulatory decision-making.
- Improving candidate selection and progression rates.
Working alongside our ADME, DMPK, bioanalysis, medicinal chemistry, and biology experts, we provide integrated insights that help you make faster, more confident candidate selection decisions.
Toxicology services
Hepatotoxicity
Predict and mitigate drug-induced liver injury (DILI)
Drug-induced liver injury remains one of the most common causes of compound attrition. As the central organ for drug metabolism and detoxification, the liver is highly susceptible to toxicity.
Early hepatotoxicity risk in drug discovery and development helps reduce costly late-stage failures and supports more informed candidate progression decisions, de-risking your IND candidates with confidence.
Hepatotoxicity services
Using primary hepatocytes from human, dog, and rodent sources, we generate species-specific insights with strong translational relevance through biochemical assays, histopathology, and advanced imaging techniques.
- Cytotoxicity/cell viability: LDH release or ATP content.
- Mitochondrial toxicity: Mitochondrial resazurin metabolism.
- Oxidative Stress: ROS (Reactive oxygen species) formation and Glutathione (GSH/GSSG) assays.
- Steatosis: Detection of lipid accumulation in hepatocytes.
- Apoptosis: Apoptotic pathway analysis for mechanistic insights.
Download the Hepatocyte Stability assay card
Neurotoxicity
Identify neurological safety risks with advanced in vitro models
Early identification of neurotoxic effects is crucial for avoiding adverse outcomes and ensuring patient safety with neurotoxicity assays evaluating potential to harm the nervous system.
They are essential for both CNS-active drugs, (such as antiepileptics, antidepressants) to evaluate therapeutic and toxic thresholds as well as those targeting other systems (such as chemotherapeutics, cell and gene therapies). These can have unintended neurotoxic effects due to off-target mechanisms.
Compared to traditional in vivo testing, in vitro models are gaining popularity in drug discovery and safety assessment thanks to their reduced cost, increased efficiency, and higher translatability.
Our neuroscience specialists use a range of physiologically relevant cellular models to replicate central nervous system structure and function, providing predictive insights into potential neurotoxic liabilities.
Neurotoxicity services
These approaches provide deeper mechanistic understanding of neurotoxic responses and pathway perturbations.
Download the poster: Modeling neurotoxicity, neuroprotection, and neurodevelopment for drug discovery applications.
Tailored toxicology solutions
Every discovery program presents different safety challenges. Our toxicology services are designed around your therapeutic area, modality and stage of development and toxicology programs are customized to meet the specific needs of your discovery and development program. We combine:
- Expert study design.
- Flexible non-GLP and GxP-compliant studies.
- Advanced cellular models.
- High-content imaging.
- Mechanistic toxicology expertise.
- Omics technologies.
- Multi-species evaluation capabilities.
This integrated approach enables rapid, data-driven decision-making while reducing development risk and supporting successful progression towards clinical studies.
Integrated ADME, DMPK and toxicology
Generating toxicology data is only valuable if it helps you make better decisions. Our toxicology services integrate seamlessly with:
Together, these capabilities provide a comprehensive understanding of compound behavior, helping you rank compounds more effectively, optimize chemical series earlier, and reduce development risk before candidate selection.
Need ADME data too?
Combine your toxicology studies with our ADME InstaQuote tool for rapid pricing on in vitro ADME services or speak with our scientists about integrated safety screening programs.
Why partner with Concept Life Sciences?
We combine specialist toxicology expertise with integrated drug discovery capabilities to provide more than assay data, we deliver scientific insight that supports better decisions. Working with us gives you access to:
- Experienced toxicologists and study directors.
- Flexible, tailored study designs.
- Routine and bespoke assay development.
- Integrated ADME and DMPK expertise.
- Rapid turnaround times.
- Mechanistic investigations.
- GxP-compliant studies where required.
- End-to-end support from discovery through IND-enabling studies.
Whether you require early screening or mechanistic investigations, our toxicology specialists can design a tailored program aligned with your therapeutic area, modality, and regulatory objectives.
Get in touch to discuss your drug discovery and development challenges and discover how our integrated toxicology solutions can help advance your program from concept to clinic.
Pharma Toxicology FAQs
Q: What is pharma toxicology?
A: Pharmaceutical toxicology evaluates the potential harmful effects of drug candidates, helping identify safety liabilities before they progress into clinical development.
Q: When should toxicity screening begin?
A: Early toxicity screening during hit identification and lead optimization enables unsuitable compounds to be removed before significant resources are invested.
Q: Can toxicology studies be combined with ADME and DMPK?
A: Yes. Integrating toxicology with ADME and DMPK provides a more complete understanding of compound developability and supports better candidate selection.
Q: Do you offer bespoke toxicology studies?
A: Yes. Alongside validated screening assays, we design tailored toxicology programs for novel targets, emerging modalities and complex discovery challenges.
Q: Can you support IND-enabling studies?
A: Yes. We provide flexible non-GLP and GxP-compliant toxicology programs to support discovery, lead optimization, IND-enabling studies and regulatory submissions.
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