Drug Companies Send Rejects to EPA to Improve Chemical Safety Tests

Published May 14, 2010

WASHINGTON, DC — Four major pharmaceutical companies have given the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency more than 100 drugs that never entered the marketplace in order to help the EPA improve its chemical screening process.

The drugs come from Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi-Aventis, and Merck, and they were rejected because of the types and levels of toxicity demonstrated by them during clinical trials during their development.

The EPA will screen the drugs with its ToxCast screening tool and compare those results to the results from the clinical trials. Looking at where the results are similar or different will help the EPA improve its screening process.

ToxCast uses 500 automated chemical screening tests to see how chemicals could impact human body processes in ways that lead to negative health effects.

By comparing the ToxCast results to the clinical trials, the EPA will be able to determine which screening tests and which of the numerous biological profiles that result from the tests are most predictive for certain human health effects.

_{Pfizer pills -}_{http://www.flickr.com/photos/96683394@N00/}_/_{CC BY-ND 2.0}

Healthcare Heavyweights Back IT Purchasing Standards Kaiser Permanente, Catholic Healthcare West, supply chain solutions provider Broadlane and the performance-oriented hospital group Premier are endorsing environmental standards for purchasing and managing IT equipment used in their industry....	Is Your CSR Report a Window or a Mirror? Companies that successfully report their environmental progress find that a surprisingly important impact CSR reports have is in giving employees a look inside their companies' progress....
Italy's Green Builders Adopt LEED Rating System The Green Building Council Italia has become the first organization in the European Union to implement the LEED green building rating system....	Historic Hartford Building Earns a Green Rating The highrise housing the Phoenix Companies' headquarters has become the first historic building in New England to be certified under the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED system....
How to Jumpstart Carbon Capture and Storage Carbon capture and storage is a nascent industry facing substantial hurdles. It could contribute 19 percent of the total greenhouse gas emission reductions necessary between now and 2050. But for that to happen an estimated 3,400 CCS projects would need to be in place....	The Growth of 'Energy-Harvesting' Wireless Building Controls For the past few years, self-powered wireless technology has been gaining traction in building automation applications. Self-powered wireless technology allows a faster response to changes in how a building is internally configured -- cutting cost by saving time and expense in needed retrofits....
New Climate Bill Could Be 'Best' Deal for Business Some say the bill could be as good as it gets for the business community, in terms of comparisons to previous bills, financial support, and something many businesses have been yearning for: certainty....	Walmart's Sustainability Report Reveals Successes, Shortcomings In its 2010 Global Sustainability report released Tuesday, the company described its efforts over the course of a year in which it made a slew of notable headlines. The company has improved fleet efficiency by 60 percent and reduced facility greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent, but faces challenges in reducing packaging and eliminating PVC....

News

Drug Companies Send Rejects to EPA to Improve Chemical Safety Tests

GreenBiz Events