Organon joins with European pharma on toxicity prediction

Organon, the human health care business unit of the Dutch Akzo Nobel group, has entered into partnership with Innovative Medicines for Europe (InnoMed), a collaboration between the European Commission and the Pharmaceutical Industry to help Europe move towards more efficient and competitive drug development.

Organon is part of PredTox - one of the two areas that fall under the InnoMed research strategy. This consortium consists of 15 pharmaceutical companies and three universities that will collaborate to understand toxic reactions to drugs at the molecular level with the aim of developing predictive tests for use in early drug development.

"Organon is delighted to be involved in this important pre-competitive initiative that will not only have important implications for improving drug development but will also demonstrate that as an industry, pharma can work together productively and constructively to benefit patients and development outcomes," commented David Nicholson, the firm's executive vice president, R&D. The announcement coincides with the start of the first phase of the PredTox project within Organon and by consortium partners.