Proscia, a provider of digital and computational pathology solutions, has announced that Virscio, a provider of translational research and development services, has deployed Concentriq for Research. The contract research organization (CRO) is leveraging Proscia’s flagship software platform to provide faster, more informed drug safety insights, helping its sponsors to improve research and development (R&D) efficiency.

90% of drug candidates fail during clinical trials.^[1] This negatively impacts R&D efficiency, as measured by the number of new drugs approved relative to investment. Effective preclinical development hinges on accurate and high throughput evaluation of large volumes of pathology data to define the safety of a candidate before it can move on to human clinical trials. As such, Virscio recognized that optimizing its pathology operations by adopting Concentriq for Research would enable its sponsors to more rapidly and confidently advance lead programs and get therapeutic breakthroughs to patients sooner.

Concentriq is trusted by 14 of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies and leading CROs to drive quality and productivity gains across the R&D value chain. Virscio is leveraging the scalable, cloud-based platform to unify its teams and data across Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and non-regulated studies, streamlining collaboration among its distributed scientists, sponsors, and external collaborators. The platform also offers world-class interoperability with leading image analysis and artificial intelligence (AI) applications, allowing Virscio’s scientists to unlock new insights that further inform decision-making.

“Translating concept to clinical success requires innovative technology, and we’ve found this in Concentriq for Research,” said Matthew Lawrence, M.D., Ph.D., Virscio’s CEO. “The platform enables us to see through our transformative approach to preclinical development and create added value for our teams and sponsors.”

With today’s news, Virscio joins other life sciences organizations at the forefront of digital pathology adoption. Concentriq for Research augments its integrated in-life and histology capabilities and unparalleled access to highly translational in vivo models that truly predict risk and response to meet the expanding demands of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies it serves. In turn, Virscio is further positioned to overcome lengthening drug development timelines and reduce development costs; the average drug takes 10 to 15 years and costs $2.6 billion to bring to market.^[2]

“We are excited to welcome Virscio to the growing roster of organizations turning to Concentriq for Research to accelerate therapeutic innovation,” said David West, Proscia’s CEO. “Virscio is driving forward a new era of preclinical development, and we look forward to seeing the impact of digital pathology in addressing the critical challenge of R&D efficiency.”

^[1] Sun, D. et al (2022, July). Why 90% of clinical drug development fails and how to improve it? Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B. 12 (7). Retrieved April 19, 2023, from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsb.2022.02.002

^[2] Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America. (2021, September 30). Research & Development Policy Framework. PhRMA Org. Retrieved April 19, 2023, from https://phrma.org/policy-issues/Research-and-Development-Policy-Framework