July 1998 News

Hugo Van Poelgeest Award Winner Uses In Vitro System To Speed Drug Development Without Animals

July 6, 1998

Geny Groothuis, senior scientist in the Department of Pharmacokinetics and Drug Delivery at the Groningen Institute of Drug Studies in The Netherlands recently received the Hugo Van Poelgeest Award. The award is presented every four years to a scientist from The Netherlands who succeeds in developing methods leading to "outstanding scientific results without the use of animals," in fields where animal experiments are standard.

Groothuis won the prize, approximately $10,000, for her development of in vitro systems incorporating human tissue cultures. The systems are able to predict the how individual organs will react to new drugs. Their success in drug metabolism and toxicity studies offer promise for their ability to replace animals (or reduce their numbers) in the early phase of drug development.

The prize is awarded by the Department of Lab Animal Issues at Leiden University to encourage scientists in The Netherlands to develop replacement alternatives.

The Department of Lab Animal Issues at Leiden University in The Netherlands presented its annual Hugo Van Poelgeest Award.