BIOLOGICAL TESTING FACILITY – "QUANTITATIVE STRUCTURE ACTIVITY RELATIONSHIP

Within the Division of Intramural Population Health Research (DIPHR), the Contraceptive Development Program (CDP) at NICHD supports research and development of compounds that can disrupt normal ovulation, sperm production or sperm function for the purpose of developing safe, effective and affordable contraceptives for men or women.

The Biological Testing Facility (BTF) is designed to allow discovery and rapid evaluation of new compositions-of-matter, drug formulations, delivery systems, and devices for contraceptive and endocrine activity.

The BTF provides overall project management and the capabilities to support all phases of preclinical activities pursuant to development of new contraceptive methods: these include, but are not limited in silico/computational modeling, to in vitro and in vivo assays, plasma and microsomal stability studies, absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity (ADMET), pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) profiling, animal activities and studies, manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), process and product development, formulation, clinical lot production, preclinical enabling studies and associated tasks leading to the filing of investigational new drug (IND) applications.

Compounds formulated by the BTF that are prepared under current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) will allow clinical evaluation in the CDP Contraceptive Clinical Trials Network (CCTN).

The CCTN investigators have develop protocols to evaluate the drug candidates identified as high priority by the Program.

The BTF has been working with the CORs for the Chemical Synthesis Facility (CSF) and the CCTN and with the investigators in the CCTN to develop and test the appropriate formulations for clinical batches of the candidate compounds. The Biological Testing Facility plays a critical role in the drug development mission of the CDP.