Replacing animal tests with technology

The EU has enacted regulations that will ban the sale of certain cosmetic goods tested on animals in the near future. As a result, the impetus to use non-animal methods has grown in the EU, where animal use and welfare laws already far out pace the US. A news article on one of the non-animal methods that may be key to compliance with the EU regs suggests are are many applications in the US, too. Entelos, Inc. is an important player in this technology.


The article explains the growing demand for Entelos' products:

"Entelos Inc., which has been working for the past decade on computer models that create virtual patients, has supplied Unilever -- maker of products like Dove soap and Pond's lotion -- with a computer model that simulates skin sensitization. Unilever will use the technology in an effort to comply with an EU mandate that by Mar. 11, 2009, cosmetic ingredients sold there cannot be tested on animals.

Entelos president and CEO James Karis anticipates more business might come the company's way as other consumer products companies selling in the EU look at ways to comply with the ban.

"We have a lot of discussions going on [with other companies]. Clearly this announcement was noticed," he says. "This is our first involvement outside of the pharmaceuticals."

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To date Entelos has been building computer models of various diseases such as cardiovascular disease, asthma, obesity, diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.

"What we're building here are mathematical representations of human biology," Karis says.

Some text from the article is available online, but a subscription is required to view it in its entirety: Entelos president and CEO James Karis says the life sciences company is creating a virtual test subject that may reduce the use of test animals.

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