Ismael and I started Absorption Systems to provide reproducible experimental data from in vitro and in vivo assays to the drug discovery community. These assays, when applied early in the process, save our customers significant amounts of money by identifying drug-like compounds with desirable ADME properties. In addition, regulatory agencies around the world have come to recognize the utility of using in vitro assays for predicting drug-drug interactions, bioequivalence and pharmacokinetics.

The mid-1990’s saw the emergence of combinatorial chemistry and high-throughput screening as dominant paradigms for drug discovery. The large number of compounds that require screening for drug-like properties led to an industry-wide temptation to produce more data faster and at a lower cost. Maintaining data quality while driving down costs may have been our greatest challenge in developing this business. What we have learned is that producing more data faster and at a lower cost does not necessarily translate into more successful drug development. This approach often produces a large quantity of ambiguous results that yield questionable insight into a molecule’s properties. Our approach is different: design the right experiment, follow the protocol rigorously, and generate high-quality data that we can interpret unambiguously.

In 2002 we won the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Today, with the same entrepreneurial spirit, the management and staff of Absorption Systems continue to develop tools to characterize and understand the drug-like properties of molecules. Our commitment to providing both reliable data that meets your needs and helping you interpret the data is stronger than ever.

Patrick Dentinger