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The Core Technology Function building at Manchester University

12:00 am, June 30, 2008
A firm with animal attraction

Cell assays could be the next method for testing cosmetics

By Michael Fahy

A Manchester University spin-out company believes one of its products could find a major new market as a replacement for animal testing of cosmetics, which is due to be banned in Europe next year.

John Nicholson, the chairman and chief executive of Gentronix, which is based at Manchester University's Core Technology Function building, said the use of Green Screen, a human cell-based assay developed by the firm, should give an indication whether a particular compound might damage genetic or cell structures. This makes it an alternative testing method for makers of skin creams and lotions.

The firm, which was started by Prof Richard Walmsley, a professor of genetics at the university, has been through a number of funding rounds since being spun out into UMIST Ventures in 1999.

Nicholson said it has gained considerable ground in recent years in proving its effectiveness. One of its products is already being used by pharmacy business Johnson & Johnson. The genotoxicity test tells drug companies whether a compound being developed for a specific treatment changes a cell or genetic structure and is therefore unsafe to develop. Currently, these tests are carried out after compounds have undergone around five years of laboratory trials and prior to tests on animals or humans.

Better screening

Nicholson believes the test could be used at an earlier stage of the drug trial process to rule out unsuitable compounds, which could save pharmaceutical companies up to £1m per trial. He also argued that the screening products developed at the company are more accurate than the current approved regulatory toxicity tests, which are 60-65 per cent accurate and therefore little better than “tossing a coin”.

He is currently arguing to have regulatory tests updated so that Gentronix is used as the standard, as it is 80-85 per cent accurate in sensitivity tests and 98 per cent accurate in specificity tests.

“It's good that people want to make sure that it's safe to use and that it is properly validated, but we believe we've done enough to validate it already,” he said.

YFM Group took a stake in the business on behalf of the Northwest Business Improvement Scheme in March 2007 as part of the company's latest funding round, when it raised a further £1.44m for development from a variety of high net-worth individuals. Its investment director, Doug Stellman, said it had been impressed by the progress that Prof Walmsley had made with the business.

“You had this academic who had already taken it to a stage where he had already attracted a major customer. That's quite unusual.”

Whether or not these investors gain a return on what is still a fairly high-risk investment remains to be seen, though. After almost a decade in development, the company turns over less than £1m and has yet to make a profit.

Nicholson is confident that Gentronix is well-placed to grab a substantial share of a market worth £100m and growing. He is predicting the company, which has around 30 customers, will grow sales to £5m within two-to-three years. “We think it's got real promise,” he said.

COMMENTS? mfahy@crain.com