Cellumen Inc.
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
Cellumen's approach to predictive toxicology involves panels of cell-based assays that the company believes are more sophisticated than those previously harnessed for drug discovery. The company is assembling panels of 10 or more biomarkers that it will use for advanced profiling--looking at the early effect (within an hour) of a given compound at a given dose, then again after 24 hours and after 72 hours. Software will process all the data into a systemic read-out, elucidate mechanisms of toxicity, and determine whether a compound should be considered high, medium, or low risk as a drug candidate.