ICCVAM Initiates Project on Predictive Models for Acute Oral Toxicity

The ICCVAM Acute Toxicity Workgroup is initiating a global project to develop in silico models of acute oral systemic toxicity that predict specific endpoints needed by regulatory agencies. These endpoints include identification of “very toxic” chemicals (LD₅₀ less than 50 mg/kg) and “nontoxic” chemicals (LD₅₀ greater than or equal to 2000 mg/kg), point estimates for rodent LD₅₀s, and categorization of toxicity hazard using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling (GHS) classification schemes. Modelers may build predictive models for any or all of these endpoints.

Models will be developed and evaluated using a large body of rat acute oral toxicity data collected by NICEATM and the EPA National Center for Computational Toxicology. Submitted models meeting defined criteria will be used to build consensus models for the acute oral toxicity endpoints of interest to regulatory agencies. It is envisioned that results of the project will be published in a high-profile journal, and the predictions will be made available via the EPA’s Chemistry Dashboard.

Detailed project information is available at https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/go/tox-models. Resources available on this page include data files, timeline, and a downloadable document that specifies project objectives and scope, details on the data and processing steps, model evaluation criteria, and additional considerations for project participants. Prediction results from models on two different datasets (training and evaluation set) must be submitted by February 9, 2018. Project results will be presented at a workshop to be held at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, on April 11-12, 2018.

(NICEATM News)