With a new DTU database, businesses can now seek help to analyze the harmful effects of chemical substances on animals and humans.
The new biotech company Saxocon is now offering businesses direct access to DTU Food researchers’ expertise regarding the potentially harmful effects of organic substances on animals and humans. This is the result of the department developing and validating numerous QSAR models (Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships) which—using computer simulation—can predict the potentially harmful effects of chemical substances.
The QSAR models can be employed in the early development stage of drugs or chemicals used in cosmetics, foods and other consumer goods to test and analyse whether the substances can lead to harmful effects such as DNA damage, cancer or allergies.
The database contains predictions over 180,000 organic substances and can carry out QSAR analyses for new individual substances or lists of chemical substances.
“Vast sums of money are required to develop drugs because the substances used in the drugs have to undergo extensive testing to determine their effects and side effects,” says Anders Permin, Deputy Director at DTU Food.
“In the early development phase of a drug, for example—even before the substance is manufactured in the laboratory—QSAR analyses can provide a company with knowledge about potentially harmful effects. In this way, analyses can contribute to decisions as to whether to continue developing the given drug or whether to find other suitable alternatives,” he says.