About IVAL

Who we are:

In Vitro ADMET Laboratories, LLC (IVAL) is a product supplier and preclinical contract research organization (CRO) dedicated to creating innovative approaches to evaluate human drug properties. We specialize in in vitro testing (testing using cell cultures). IVAL provides cutting edge products and services to pharmaceutical development laboratories across the globe. Our goal: to continue to develop products and preclinical applications that can provide more accurate prediction of drug safety and efficacy.

Our in vitro approach allows the refinement, reduction, and replacement of live animal usage in drug research. This not only aides animal welfare but also creates more accurate data, since the use of human cells can provide human-specific information that cannot be obtained with nonhuman laboratory animals.

What we do:

IVAL strives to aid pharmaceutical companies in the identification of the most promising chemical candidates for drug development. We have optimized cryopreservation of primary human and animal cells that are routinely used in the study of:

• Drug metabolism (how the body processes a compound)
• Drug-drug interactions (how that compound interacts with other drugs already in the body)
• Toxicity (predicting the potential harmful effects that the compound may cause)
• Pharmacology (predicting how well a compound will do what it is designed to do)

Cryopreservation (cooling organic matter to subzero temperatures) is an ideal method for long term storage and allows researchers to have a steady supply of cells available for experimentation. Much of our work focuses on hepatocytes, a major cell type found in the liver. The liver is the primary target for desirable pharmacological effects (e.g. reduction of cholesterol synthesis), is the primary organ for drug metabolism, and is often damaged by toxic drugs. Hepatocytes therefore represent an extremely important experimental system for the evaluation of both desirable and undesirable drug properties.

Hepatocytes in Human Plasma, photographed at IVAL Columbia

IVAL strives to provide the highest quality hepatocytes to the pharmaceutical industry. Our innovative accomplishments include the optimization of hepatocyte isolation, cryopreservation, thawing, recovery, and culturing. The IVAL cryopreserved hepatocytes retain key liver functions, similar to that of freshly isolated cells. Our patented QuickRefreeze™ procedure allows the pooling of human hepatocytes (Pooled Cryopreserved Human Hepatocytes) from multiple donors, resulting in a better representation of a diverse population, particularly important since most drugs will be used by a wide variety of people.

Using IVAL cryopreserved human and animal hepatocytes, researchers can obtain valuable data on species difference (comparing animal and human hepatocytes), individual difference (comparing human hepatocytes from multiple donors), as well as generalized human drug properties (using human hepatocytes pooled from multiple donors). This provides data that is extremely valuable in guiding drug development.

IVAL’s scientists continue to develop novel technologies for overcome current challenges in drug development. These include:

1. Integrated Discrete Multiple Organ Co-Culture (IdMOC®) in vitro experimental model

The IdMOC Plate

2. Plated hepatocyte relay assay (PHRA) for the evaluation of slowly metabolized compounds (patent pending)
3. Drug-Induced Liver Damage (DILI) Assay

Where we come from:

Dr. Albert P. Li founded IVAL in 2004 in order to pursue his lifelong commitment to improving the quality, availability, and understanding of the application of in vitro human-based experimental systems, especially human hepatocytes, for accurate assessment of human drug properties.
Dr. Li is an internationally renowned researcher with over 160 publications, including 5 books, and is frequently invited to speak at domestic and international conferences. IVAL was formed based on the principle that in vitro human systems, supplemented with in vitro animal systems, can greatly aid the definition of drug properties and thereby greatly facilitate drug development.

IVAL headquarters is in Columbia, Maryland. In 2014, the IVAL Boston Hepatocyte Technology Center (BHTC) was established in Malden, Massachusetts to provide expert technical support to pharmaceutical and academic research facilities in Boston. At BHTC, IVAL hosts practical, state-of-the art scientific symposia and hands-on hepatocyte workshops.

IVAL currently has customers in North America, Europe, and Asia.

What we can do for you:

If you are in pharmaceutical development or academic research and investigate drug metabolism, drug-drug interactions, drug toxicity, and hepatic pharmacology, our products and services can add value to your work. For more information and to see our full catalog, please visit our website.

If you are interested in learning more about the development of new pharmaceuticals, the role of hepatocytes and cryopreservation in drug research, or biomedical research in general then please to subscribe to this blog via RSS or email. You can also follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. And feel free to send questions or comments to social@invitroadmet.com. We’d love to hear from you!