Iconix products and services are designed to provide insight and answers for the important decisions that must be made in different stages of pharmaceutical research and development. Questions include: Have we selected the right lead molecule(s) for optimization? Have we identified any safety problems and what are the mechanisms of toxicity? Can we develop counter-screens to aid further lead optimization? Can we identify biomarkers that will detect and allow us to monitor safety issues further downstream in development and in the clinic? Timely answers can profoundly influence program success and increase the likelihood that the final compound placed on the market will have an acceptable safety margin. Prior to the development of toxicogenomics, obtaining reliable answers to these questions was a multi-year research effort that was rarely pursued as an alternative to the standardized approach of gross and microscopic observations of treated rats. Though well-accepted in the industry, these traditional approaches are acknowledged to be of low resolution, slow and costly. Iconix has addressed resolution, speed and cost through the development of products and services that apply novel genomic technologies to rapidly profile candidate drugs, leading to a more thorough understanding of a candidate drug and its potential liabilities, thus adding more confidence in advancing a candidate drug into development and ultimately the clinic.

Advanced knowledge of a compound's likely safety profile, i.e. unintended pharmacology and toxicity, acquired through a toxicogenomics analysis using Iconix technology, creates an opportunity to shift attrition upstream in the drug discovery and development process. This transfers critical decisions to points where corrective action can be taken prior to significant downstream investment, thus improving program efficiency. Cost savings result from accelerating termination decisions - "fail-early-fail-fast" - and also by revealing corrective paths through mechanism definition and counter screen identification -- thus increasing efficiency and the likelihood of clinical success.