HESI Insights - March 2019

Last month, HESI partnered with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research and the National Toxicology Program (NTP) in a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support improved cardiovascular safety and reduce the use of animals for testing. To highlight some of HESI’s other efforts over the years to reduce animal testing, Dr. Vicki Dellarco shared her past experience with HESI’s Agricultural Chemical Safety Assessment (ACSA) Committee: “The HESI ACSA Committee represented an early effort to reduce the number of animals and resources used in chemical safety evaluation by designing a tiered testing paradigm that incorporated existing knowledge of toxicity and exposure. This effort was an important springboard for current efforts to reduce animal usage and increase the effectiveness of toxicity testing through use of modern technologies to provide the most relevant information for decision-making.”

To learn more about HESI’s scientific efforts to move away from animal dependence, click here. Stay tuned for more 30th anniversary highlights in the coming months!

Registration is now open for the FDA workshop on “Leveraging Human-Relevant Cardiomyocytes in Nonclinical Studies to Provide Mechanistic Insights Into Cardiovascular Safety Liabilities.” The agenda for this event is posted on the registration website and it will be held in the FDA Great Room at the White Oak campus in Silver Spring, Maryland, on 29 March 2019. Registration is free but required, so register today to reserve your spot! For more information, please contact Jennifer Pierson (jpierson@hesiglobal.org).

The Immuno-safety Technical Committee (ITC) will hold a training course in South San Francisco, California, on 9–10 April 2019 on the topic of cancer immunotherapies.  This 2-day course will provide the foundation biology, describe therapeutic approaches across the various modalities, and discuss other safety-related issues. For more information and to register, please visit the website or contact Dr. Stan Parish (sparish@hesiglobal.org).

There are still spots available for the “Thyroid Hormone Assessment Workshop: Implications for Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology” on 9–10 May 2019, jointly planned by the DART Committee and the European Teratology Society Thyroid Task Force. We will be addressing the state of the science of thyroid hormone assessment testing in young rodents in regulatory settings and improving data interpretation of thyroid changes and their relationship to adverse outcomes. Visit the event webpage to view the draft meeting agenda, obtain lodging information, and register! There is a nominal registration fee but if you have any questions or concerns or would like more information, please contact Connie Chen (cchen@hesiglobal.org).

At our Annual Meeting in June, I will be presenting a perspective on the challenges, contributions and impact of HESI over the past 30 years. Although it will be fun to look back on our experiences and accomplishments, it’s even more important that we continue to look ahead. To that end, the HESI Board engaged in a strategy exercise at a January meeting, and based on a very productive discussion, our staff developed a map of current objectives relative to the impact and effort required to succeed on the objective. Although we certainly want to focus on high impact efforts, the Executive Committee will be reviewing this analysis to assess how best to prioritize our efforts and focus our resources. We hope that this evaluation will not only be thought-provoking but will also help to provide a broad picture of the overall efforts in the HESI portfolio and continue to evolve HESI initiatives and strategy. We will share the perspective gained from this exercise in future communications.

Lois Lehman-McKeeman
HESI Chair