Staffordshire based Instem, a leading provider of early drug development software solutions, announced today that the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) has purchased its Provantis® preclinical software solution for use in the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP) studies.

Carried out at contractor laboratories at various sites throughout the United States, the NTP examines the impact of chemicals on human health. Accessed over the internet, Provantis will be used by the laboratories to streamline study processes and workflows.

Provantis is a modular software solution which manages every facet of drug safety assessment beginning at the time a compound is received through to the automated assembly of statistical analysis and final reports.

It leverages vital data across an organisation to enable higher efficiencies, the reduction of errors and better decision making, it does this by: (1) enabling more studies to be conducted with the same resource levels (2) improving the quality of data for Scientists and laboratory technicians (3) compiling comprehensive reports in minutes, instead of days or weeks as with alternative methods, such as paper based processes.

The contract is for an initial two year period at a value of over £420, 000, to be completely funded by the U.S. federal government.

Phil Reason, CEO of Instem commented, "We are delighted that our proprietary software has been selected by the U.S. government to assist in its National Toxicology Program. This contract underlines our world leading position in preclinical software and will help us to continue to raise our profile in the U.S. and globally. We are extremely well placed to benefit from the expected growth in the early drug development market and are excited about the future for Instem."