June 28, 2018
Northbrook, Ill., June 28, 2018— UL, the science safety company, and ANGUS Chemical Company (ANGUS), a leading global manufacturer and marketer of specialty and fine chemicals, have embarked together on the successful application of “big data” and the use of UL’s Cheminformatics suite. The suite includes REACHAcross™ software, a predictive toxicology tool from UL’s Product Supply Chain Intelligence division (PSI) that enhances companies’ abilities to evaluate safety early in the new product development process. REACHAcross™ software provides a digital alternative to animal testing, and combines the best of quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) and read-across approaches to predict the chemical toxicity of substances to comply with global chemical regulations and new chemical development.
“UL’s suite of cheminformatics products is complementary to other computational tools in the market, and gives us another lens to look through in performing risk assessments with our chemistries, getting us one step closer to complete 360-degree, more sustainable, animal-free safety evaluations,” said Dr. Pam Spencer, Senior Director, Regulatory, Product Stewardship and Quality at ANGUS. “Because it draws from an extraordinarily large data set, REACHAcross™ software provides immediate access to a very complete set of in vivo test data used in a weight of evidence approach, which strengthens our ability to assess gaps in safety information and how to target next steps.”
UL’s Cheminformatics suite was initially launched in March 2017 with REACHAcross™ softwareand now includes both the Green Chemistry and R-SDS modules. REACHAcross™ softwareis specifically designed to help companies meet the European Union’s 2018 REACH registration deadlines by reducing the need for animal testing, which is time-intensive, costly and can pose ethical dilemmas. The tool works by analyzing billions of pairs of chemicals and blends conventional read-across principles with machine learning approaches for a scalable and generally-applicable model of health endpoints, such as skin sensitization, acute oral toxicity, acute eye irritation, acute dermal irritation, acute dermal toxicity and mutagenicity. UL partnered with ANGUS as a “ of the tool during the development process.
“The initial intent with our REACHAcross™ software was to help companies fill data gaps in REACH dossiers,” said Carlos Correia, Vice President, UL’s PSI division. “However, in working closely with ANGUS throughout the software development process, we recognized the broader industry value of UL’s Cheminformatics tools for use in providing insight into how chemicals behave at early stages in R&D development, as well as in prioritizing work in modernizing data sets. As a willing partner through the process, ANGUS provided us with valuable insight we used to enhance the tool to better serve their needs, which are shared by others across the global chemical industry.”
“For years, we’ve monitored how data and analytics can make chemical development more efficient,” added Spencer. “The same can be applied to regulatory where category formation, grouping of chemicals and read-across methods are broadly applicable in toxicological assessments. With UL’s Cheminformatics suite and tools like REACHAcross™ software even a small company like ANGUS can build a robust program around chemical safety assessment and regulatory decisions, while reducing the time, resource and financial investment required to bring a new product to market.”
To learn more about UL’s Cheminformatics suite, visit psi.ul.com or ulreachacross.com.
Additional modules in the UL Cheminformatics suite are in development, maximizing the increasing availability of big data in toxicology. To learn more about REACHAcross™ software and the full range of UL’s PSI offerings, please visit www.ulreachacross.com or psi.ul.com.
About UL
UL fosters safe living and working conditions for people everywhere through the application of science to solve safety, security and sustainability challenges. The UL Mark engenders trust enabling the safe adoption of innovative new products and technologies. Everyone at UL shares a passion to make the world a safer place. We test, inspect, audit, certify, validate, verify, advise and train and we support these efforts with software solutions for safety and sustainability. To learn more about us, visit UL.com.