Robert Leasure, Jr., President and CEO of Inotiv, commented, “This transaction with MilliporeSigma adds genetic toxicology to our suite of internal capabilities. We now have assembled in-house all of the critical nonclinical services necessary to support our clients’ goals of advancing to human clinical trials.”

MilliporeSigma is discontinuing their Genetic Toxicology operations. The agreement with Inotiv is designed to ensure continuity of services for existing clients. Inotiv also plans to offer employment to certain MilliporeSigma employees who otherwise may have been displaced.

To facilitate entry into the genetic toxicology business, Inotiv also announced that Gopala Krishna, PhD, MBA, has joined Inotiv as Senior Vice President, Genetic Toxicology, to lead the Company’s genetic toxicology service offering. Dr. Krishna is a Diplomate, American Board of Toxicology, a Fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences, and has over three decades of pharmaceutical industry experience as a drug discovery and development nonclinical leader at large and small Pharma companies, such as Pfizer, Abbott Labs, MGI Pharma, Enzon, and Supernus. He has also served as Professor (Adjunct) at the University of Michigan teaching Pharmacology & Toxicology in the School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI. Most recently he served as Principal Consultant - Nonclinical at PAREXEL International. Currently, he is the President of National Capital Area Chapter (NCAC) of Society of Toxicology (SOT) and has been a contributing senior member of the Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics (Genetic Toxicology) Society (EMGS) for over 35 years.

“Evaluation of the potential for novel therapeutics to interact with and alter DNA is a key element of the safety assessment of those drug candidates,” said John E. Sagartz, Chief Strategy Officer of Inotiv. “Inotiv historically has relied on other vendors to provide these key assessments. I’m excited to announce the addition of the BioReliance® assets and Dr. Krishna, and we look forward to developing the genetic toxicology business. We believe this is another significant milestone for Inotiv and our clients.”

Dr. Krishna commented, “I am delighted to join Inotiv with the task of expanding the service offering to include genotoxicity capabilities and look forward to leveraging the assets of the BioReliance® portfolio to assist our clients in the development of safe novel therapeutics.”

In support of this new offering, Inotiv expects to lease space near the current MilliporeSigma’s facilities in Rockville, Maryland.