Ace Therapeutics offers a complete program of preclinical toxicology services to support your range of toxicology requirements. We are experienced in the early evaluation of new antipsychotic molecules, including single-dose, multi-dose, and targeted studies, as well as targeted or investigational toxicology, toxicology programs supporting IND, and long-term carcinogenicity studies. Our capabilities can support your acute hepatotoxicity studies, subacute hepatotoxicity studies, and chronic hepatotoxicity studies.

The Importance of Hepatotoxicity Analysis of Antipsychotic Drugs

Drugs used in psychiatry are the second most hepatotoxic class of drugs after anti-infective drugs. Most antipsychotic drugs (except sulpiride, amisulpride, risperidone, and paliperidone) are metabolized by the cytochrome P450 (CYP) system. Both typical and newer antipsychotics cause hepatic injury to varying degrees. Therefore, it is necessary to quickly and accurately determine the cause of liver injury and the type and severity of the injury, and to develop solutions.

Fig. 1 Oxidative stress in antidepressants- and antipsychotics-induced DILI. (Todorović Vukotić N, et al., 2021)

Hepatoxicity Analysis Services

Ace Therapeutics is dedicated to helping clients characterize the potential hepatotoxicity of antipsychotic drugs, from screening to investigational new drug (IND) submission. Our experienced scientists work in state-of-the-art facilities to provide you with up-to-date and comprehensive studies. We focus on 3 main areas to help you study the mechanisms of antipsychotic-induced liver injury.

• Immune response: The metabolism of certain antipsychotic drugs in the liver produces toxic metabolites that affect the secretion and excretion of bile, leading to cholestasis, which is associated with an immune-mediated hypersensitivity reaction.
• Direct toxic effects: The direct toxic effect of some antipsychotic drugs or their metabolites is to attack hepatocytes, and the delayed toxic effect is caused by the gradual accumulation of small toxic metabolites.
• Metabolic abnormalities: Certain antipsychotic drugs indirectly affect the liver by increasing the risk of metabolic syndrome, leading to an increased risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Why Choose Us?

We have unique and extensive experience in preclinical studies of antipsychotic drugs. In addition, we have the skills and expertise to accelerate the development of new drugs. We offer unique and sophisticated evaluation methods, including OCT, digital radiography, CT scans, ultrasound, and MRI. In addition, we offer immunohistochemistry, cytokines, ELISA, PCR, qPCR, and immunogenicity assays. We provide liver toxicity analysis services to assess the potential risk of liver injury during drug development. The advantages of our services include

• Early detection of potential risks: Our services can help you identify potential hepatotoxicity risks early in the development of antipsychotic drugs, which helps you optimize your pharmaceutical process and reduce development costs while ensuring drug compliance with safety and regulatory requirements.
• Improve drug development efficiency: Our services can provide timely data support during the development of your antipsychotic drugs, thereby improving development efficiency and accuracy.

Ace Therapeutics offers a range of in vitro toxicology studies that are more predictive of human response, shorten turnaround times, provide independent data for specific endpoints, and help screen and sequence chemicals by studying specific targets in cells and tissues. Our team of experienced biologists, toxicologists, and statisticians has supported hepatotoxicity studies of antipsychotics for many years. If you are interested in this service, please make an inquiry to learn how we can support you in your project.

Reference

1. Todorović Vukotić N, et al. Antidepressants- and antipsychotics-induced hepatotoxicity. Arch Toxicol. 2021, 95(3):767-789.