Pharmatest to Launch New Preclinical Osteoarthritis Models

news-releasesPharmatest Services Ltd
September 24th 2013

Turku, Finland: – Research laboratory Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is to launch four new fully validated preclinical efficacy models to aid in development of much-needed new therapeutic options for osteoarthritis.

The validation results will be presented at the October 4–7 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) in Baltimore, MD, the leading scientific event in bone biology worldwide.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease and among the most common causes of chronic pain and disability in older people, affecting 12.6 per cent of total population in Western countries. No disease-modifying treatment options for OA are currently available, and development of such drugs has become an increasingly intensive focus for the global pharmaceutical industry.

New Treatment Options
Pharmatest is a Finnish-based contract research organization (CRO) that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of skeletal diseases and oncology. The Pharmatest team attending ASBMR in Baltimore will bring scientific presentations that include results of validation studies of four new preclinical OA models that were developed in a EUREKA Eurostars-funded project, which started in 2009.

These presentations will officially launch the Pharmatest models as service products for the pharmaceutical industry, helping them to develop new treatment options for OA.

Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest paid tribute to the work of collaboration partner Percuros BV, a biotech company based in Leiden, Netherlands, for its contribution to the research and also to EUREKA’s Eurostars programme for the funding.

“Without them we would not have these new OA models ready now,” said Halleen.

“I am convinced that these models will have a substantial impact in the growth of our business, and we will be able to help the pharma industry in developing new OA treatments and battling the increasing disease burden of OA in the coming years,” he added.

About Pharmatest
Pharmatest Services Ltd is a contract research organisation specialising in clinically predictive preclinical efficacy services in the therapeutic areas of oncology and skeletal diseases.

Head quartered in Turku, Finland, its preclinical research unit offers modern research facilities including fully equipped laboratories and barrier-type animal facilities.

Key to Pharmatest’s specialist services is its desire to improve the speed and efficiency of nonclinical drug development and reduce the amount of drug candidates failing in clinical trials. Pharmatest has developed proven ability to reduce costs and notably increase the speed of drug development by processing outsourced preclinical efficacy testing with the maximum efficiency. Working with Pharmatest provides clients with on-demand access to latest translational tools for lead validation and proof-of-concept studies in oncology and skeletal diseases.

Pharmatest also helps clients to establish the proof-of-efficacy of cancer drug candidates with cell culture assays, organotypic 3D models, orthotopic animal models, and disseminated cancer models. Its models of skeletal diseases include bone cell culture assays and animal models of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis that can also be used for bone safety testing.

Pharmatest has supported close to 100 clients from pharmaceutical and biotechnology organisatons worldwide in research to develop new therapeutics against cancer and skeletal diseases. It has also assisted many nutraceutical companies in the development of new phytopharmaceutical products.

Contact:
Pharmatest Services Ltd
Jussi Halleen
Tel: +358 50 380 9551
Email: [email protected]

Or

US Sales Rep.
Andrew Heiniluoma
Tel: +1 978 340 1028
Email: [email protected]

For more information about the new preclinical osteoarthritis models please contact Pharmatest Services directly.