Epistem to screen drugs for use as prophylactic agents

UK biotech and contract research company Epistem has partnered with a US corporation to screen drug candidates that could ultimately be used offer the Armed Forces protection from radiation or nuclear attack.

Under an appropriation award from the US Department of Defense to the Humanetics Corporation Epistem will screen drugs that may be adopted as prophylactic agents over the next year. Such agents should reduce the level of intestinal related radiation sickness and improve morbidity and mortality.

Epistem was chosen for its specialised preclinical efficacy testing services for agents likely to protect the intestinal epithelium from subsequent radiation damage.

Epistem is an established provider of similar assays for the National Institutes of Health Medical Countermeasures against Radiological and Nuclear Threats and also in the area of oncology supportive care. The assays provide quantitative and mechanistic data to assess the efficacy of novel drug candidates, and help define optimum dose scheduling.

John L. Zenk, managing director and chief medical and scientific officer at Humanetics, said: "The tests performed by Epistem should identify agents that will reduce the levels of ulceration, diarrhoea, anorexia and ideally also fatalities caused by radiation exposure. Epistem currently provides the industry standard systems for measuring the levels of gastrointestinal damage and are enormously experienced in this area."

Dr Catherine Booth, head of Epistem's contract research division, said: "This project perfectly complements our work with MCART. The current contract with Humanetics will test agents that may be taken prior to radiation exposure, in situations of high risk, whereas MCART are evaluating agents that mitigate damage following exposure. Both types of drugs also have therapeutic applications in oncology supportive care, the area for which we first developed and validated these assays, and possibly in other related intestinal wound healing situations, such as inflammatory bowel disease.