Eurofins strengthens its alternative skin sensitisation testing portfolio for Cosmetics and Chemicals with GARD from SenzaGen

By Helge Gehrke, Head of In Vitro Pharmacology & Toxicology, Eurofins BioPharma Product Testing

In March 2018, the full implementation of the EU animal testing ban for cosmetic products, which made necessary the fast implementation of solid in vitro tools for assessing the toxicological potential of cosmetic active ingredients and also finished formulations, has celebrated its 5th anniversary.

Eurofins laboratories are working to find the best solution for customers. For this reason Eurofins BPT Munich has signed a global licensing agreement with SenzaGen, which allows Eurofins to use the GARD™ test platform of SenzaGen for its future safety testing activities for Cosmetics and Chemicals.

GARD™ is a genomebased test, with higher accuracy than other available test methods that gives customers important safety information whether chemical substances are at risk of causing allergies in humans. Eurofins BPT Munich will include both GARD™ tests in its portfolio, GARDskin™ and the add-on test GARDpotency™, as a leading diagnostic tool in its chemical safety testing services to clients in the cosmetic, chemical and pharmaceutical industries worldwide.

GARDskin™, measures changes in gene expression of 200 genes relevant to skin sensitisation adverse outcome pathways (AOP). The high amount of data points measured by GARDskin™ gives a specific and high resolution result compared to tests measuring few data points.

GARD potency™ is an add-on application of the GARD™ platform able to provide the CLP categorisation of skin sensitisers Cat 1A for strong sensitisers, Cat 1B for moderate sensitisers, required by REACH regulation.

GARD™ has the potential to meet the increasing demands in the cosmetics, chemicals and pharmaceutical industries for reliable, in vitro testing methods to assess the allergy-inducing properties of chemical substances. The test is in the process of obtaining regulatory approval and inclusion in international test guidelines.

For further information, www.eurofins.com/cosmetics/safety-testing.