Kalamazoo’s CeeTox awarded nearly $26 million to test chemicals for risks

The Environmenal Protection Agency wants to  reduce its reliance on slow and expensive animal toxicity tests. It is looking for a way for chemicals to be screened more quickly to predict and identify potential risks. The EPA has asked Kalamazoo-based CeeTox to help with that.

The life-sciences company located in Western Michigan University's Business Technology and Research Park has been awarded a $25.9 million contract for one year. The contract may be renewed in four additional one-year options. The total grant could be worth up to $129.6 million.

CeeTox employs 32 people and has 10,500 square feet of lab space. It plans to hire up to a dozen new employees in the next six months. Founded in 2003, it was the first company to move into the Southwest Michigan Innovation Center. 

The grant is made available through the ToxCast program, launched in 2007 to develop a cost-effective approach for testing thousands of chemicals in consumer products and assessing them for safety. The new products include potential drugs, cosmetics, personal care products, farm chemicals and household chemicals.

Of the tens of thousands of chemicals in use today, the EPA reports that only a small fraction have been adequately assessed for potential risk. The current testing methods, mostly requiring the use of animals, are simply too expensive and time-consuming to allow for adequate, in-depth screening. Once fully implemented, ToxCast will help identify, in a fast, cost-effective manner those compounds that are dangerous to humans.

CeeTox will initially screen up to 1,000 chemicals. The contract has the option of expanding to test 10,000 chemicals over the next five years.

"The ToxCast Program will ultimately help us better understand and mitigate the toxic effects of chemicals in our world," says Tim Mitchell, president of CeeTox.