Bayer Technology Services and Physiomics sign collaboration agreement

Bayer Technology Services, the engineering and applied science spin-off company of Bayer AG, and UK company Physiomics, based in Oxford, have signed a co-operation agreement in the field of clinical response prediction.

Under the terms of the agreement, Bayer Technology Services and Physiomics have committed themselves, under strict confidentiality, to undertake specific consulting projects according to customer requirements.

This collaboration brings together Bayer Technology Services' PK-Sim physiology-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modelling and Physiomics' SystemCell technology which can determine and predict optimum drug levels. The move reflects the growing demand from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries for simulation technology to streamline drug discovery from preclinical through Phase III.

Clinical response prediction measures the optimum dosing and efficacy of therapeutic compounds. It is designed to smooth out dosing and related toxicity problems early in a drug's development. Integrating pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic technologies into one predictive system aids portfolio attrition risk assessment, clinical protocol optimisation and project troubleshooting. The integrated approach delivers quantitative arguments for prioritisation of drug candidates in a pipeline, maximises clinical trial outcomes and also interprets failures in trials of apparently promising drugs.

'The collaboration with Physiomics strengthens our position as a technology leader in the field of predictive biological simulations,' said Dr Helmut Mothes, senior vice president for process technology at Bayer Technology Services. 'Together, we are able to add significant value to the whole r&d value chain in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry.'