%0 Journal Article
%T In silico toxicology models and databases as FDA Critical Path Initiative toolkits
%A Luis G Valerio
%J Human Genomics
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1479-7364-5-3-200
%X Born out of computational chemistry and chemoinformatics, in silico methods for toxicology testing have brought new insight into several areas of toxicology, including new predictive tools and data-mining approaches to help make more effective use of large repositories of the results from in vitro and animal toxicology studies with xenobiotics. Substances that have been examined with these approaches include human pharmaceuticals, food ingredients, environmental agents and other chemicals to which there is significant human exposure. The use of in silico methods directed towards the evaluation of safety endpoints, as well as the deployment of chemoinformatics approaches in the analysis of genome responses after exposure to xenobiotics, has been supported by authorities through enacted legislation in the European Union--eg the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) legislation--to help to reduce, refine and replace animal testing [1]. In addition, recommendations recently made by the US National Research Council in its report, Toxicity Testing for the 21st Century: A Vision and a Strategy, also lend strong support to the use of computer-based technologies for the assessment of toxicities, with an emphasis on those relevant to protecting public health [2]. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recognises the need to develop and identify new product development and technical tools, for example, using computational, statistical, bioinformatics and genomics methods as part of its broad-based national strategy for transforming the way that FDA-regulated products are developed, evaluated and manufactured [3]. The FDA's Critical Path Initiative describes this goal in its landmark report, Innovation/Stagnation: Challenge and Opportunity on the Critical Path to New Medical Products [4]. Among other opportunities, the publication points out the potential to develop computer-based (in silico) methods as tools for the early detection of
%K in silico toxicology
%K in silico methods
%K QSAR
%K SAR
%K computational toxicology
%K drug safety
%K genotoxicity
%K cardiac safety
%U http://www.humgenomics.com/content/5/3/200