ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 11, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- MIR Preclinical Services (MIR) has expanded its range of service offerings to include studies of inflammation and inflammatory pathways. These include in vivo models of inflammation and autoimmune diseases, as well as complementary in vitro and ex vivo work. The Company will also offer custom model development and services to meet client's specific needs. Inflammation is an aspect of many diseases and disorders. MIR views this as an opportunity to provide additional service to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in search of advanced therapeutics for these conditions.
Joe Cornicelli joined MIR as Director of Inflammation Services in 2007. Dr. Cornicelli has over 22 years of experience in big pharmaceutical drug discovery and development in the areas of inflammation, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Recently Joe has held the position of Research Fellow in the Inflammation Therapeutic Area at Pfizer Global Research and Development in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His laboratory has contributed work in to such compounds as Lipitor(r) and Rezulin(r). Additionally, Joe is also a Fellow of the American Heart Association.
"I see a great deal of opportunity and overlap between oncology and inflammation. Many of the newer targets for oncology drugs also play a key role in inflammation. I am looking forward to developing this business unit and providing our clients with outstanding preclinical services and consultation. Our ability to add imaging modalities to our standard pharmacology studies makes us a unique provider within the CRO industry," says Dr. Cornicelli.
About MIR Preclinical Services
MIR is a contract research organization specializing in the preclinical assessments and evaluation of novel anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory therapeutic agents. The company's senior leadership has over 100 years of drug discovery experience with models of cancer and inflammatory diseases. MIR offers many services that include analysis of efficacy, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, blood chemistries and histology. This is in addition to non-invasive imaging of disease status at anatomical and functional levels and consulting. MIR is a leader in the integration of traditional efficacy testing with clinically relevant imaging technologies to provide new insights to drug discovery and development. The company is unique in its ability to apply non-invasive in vivo imaging modalities including preclinical MRI, X-ray micro-CT, high resolution preclinical PET, and bioluminescence and fluorescence imaging to visualize biological processes such as signal transduction, apoptosis, angiogenesis, bone deformation, joint degradation and tumor growth. MIR actively collaborates with leading scientists in developing new drug evaluation technologies with a view to publication of results in peer reviewed journals.