Brussels, May 3, 2016 – Cefic is pleased to announce the launch of AMBIT, a new open software tool designed to support companies by facilitating high quality chemical safety prediction.

The Cefic-supported ‘Long Range Research Initiative’ (LRI) programme responsible for developing the software welcomes the contribution of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) through sharing non-confidential REACH data to industry. This data is now integrated in the software, and demonstrates the chemical industry’s strong track record in collaborating with governmental chemical safety stakeholders.

Based on a ‘predictive toxicity model’, AMBIT applies the principles of read-across - a scientific method for predicting unknown properties of one chemical from known properties of similar chemicals - and categorisation. AMBIT thus enables companies to search for existing information on chemical safety and to securely upload their own data offline.

States Pierre Barthelemy, Cefic Executive Director, Research and Innovation, “The Cefic-LRI AMBIT tool is a major step forward in our efforts towards chemical safety prediction for R&D and regulatory purposes. It will contribute to the safer use of chemicals and a reduction in testing and innovation cost by making it easier for companies to comply with regulations governing chemicals”.

Enhancing chemical data access and management, AMBIT is free to users and has been developed under the industry-led LRI project and comprises a database of more than 450,000 chemical structures and functional modules. Users can search and access a wide range of existing information about a chemical, as well as securely upload data generated by their own company. This process makes the tool both unique and powerful, particularly for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

AMBIT also boasts an enhanced search functionality offering superior substance search requests formatted for all data export formats, including the REACH IUCLID format, which is practical for users. The tool is designed to enable the secure importation of external databases from several sources in an easy way. 

Contact: Dervla Gleeson, Cefic Media Relations Manager (dgl@cefic.be)

Notes to editors:

What is AMBIT?
AMBIT is a web application, offering a web browser interface to an open source chemical substance decision support system, which features:

-          Chemical structures database;

-          Search for structure (s) [exact, similar, substructure]  and meta data;

-          Support for nanomaterials;

-          Prediction and data  analysis tools;

-          Data exchange tools: manual or automated;

-          Compatible with any operating system;

-          REST web services;

-          User and access management.

AMBIT handles substance identity, including structures, composition of mono- and multi constituent substances, and, in special cases of UVCBs, addressing constituents, impurities and additives in the way IUCLID (http://iuclid.eu/) is structured. The experimental data is stored per substance, instead of being linked to a single structure.

• Read more about AMBIT here.
• For online access or to download the AMBIT tool, check here.
• Online Instruction Videos (downloadable), click here.

Upcoming Workshops where AMBIT will be presented:
19-20 April 2016, Helsinki, Finland - Topical Scientific Workshop - New Approach Methodologies in Regulatory Science
13-17 June 2016, Miami, Florida, USA - 17th International Conference on QSAR in Environmental and Health Sciences
15-16 June 2016, Awaji Island, Japan - Meeting the Global Challenge of Applying New Scientific Methods to Improve Environmental and Human Health Risk Assessments
13-15 July 2016, Seoul, South Korea - 14th International Nanotech Symposium & Nano-Convergence Expo, NANO KOREA 2016

About LRI

The Long-range Research Initiative (LRI) is part of Cefic's voluntary initiatives to improve the Regulatory Framework of the chemical industry in Europe. Its mission is to identify and fill gaps in our understanding of the hazards posed by chemicals and to improve the methods available for assessing the associated risks. More information: www.cefic-lri.org

For all enquiries, please contact Dervla Gleeson, Cefic Media Relations Manager (dgl@cefic.be)

About Cefic: Cefic – the EU chemical industry council – is the voice of over 29,000 chemical companies in Europe. We represent over 1.2 million jobs in Europe. www.cefic.org