Xceleron Signs Sanofi Aventis Service Agreement

Xceleron has signed a master services agreement with Sanofi-Aventis to assess the human metabolism of novel compounds in early clinical development. Prof. Colin Garner, Xceleron’s chief executive officer, said, “Xceleron is delighted to be working with Sanofi-Aventis to optimize their radiolabelled clinical studies. Increasingly, leading pharmaceutical companies are adopting Xceleron’s new drug development strategies to maximize data on compounds in the exploratory clinical development phase. This powerful new knowledge enables our partners to make much more informed decisions about the future clinical development of each new drug.”

Dr. G. Ulrich Kuerzel, deputy head, GMPK Frankfurt and head of Metabolism / In Vitro Systems for Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GmbH, commented, “Initial data we are receiving from these studies confirm our interest in using Xceleron’s ultra-sensitive analytical technology. We are gaining important information that has not been available to us previously.”

Xceleron’s approach enables human drug-metabolite profiling to be performed earlier in the clinical development process, such as Phase I. This analysis helps drug developers to detect and measure ultra-low levels of both known and unknown metabolites producing data that isn’t available using other analytical techniques, according to the company. Early human profiling also helps identify the most suitable species for use in long term toxicology and pharmacology studies.