Toxicological pathology – what does it mean and what is the role of the pathologist? As regards the use of medicinal products from the pharmaceutical industry, the user's experience should be positive and the negative side effects should be kept as minimal as possible. To evaluate negative effects, toxicological studies are carried out. Studies on the toxicity of substances aim to prevent diseases by setting limiting values, below which the health risk is negligible or nil. The (toxicological) pathologist plays a crucial role in assessing the safety of vaccines, medicines and chemicals. The emphasis is on the identification of pathological changes, the evaluation and relevance of these changes, and in particular the interpretation of these data from animal experiments in the context of their application to humans (risk assessment). Catastrophes in the last century, for example after using thalidomide (teratogenic effects) and the synthetic estrogen diethylstilbestrol (DES) in utero (carcinogen) have taught us how important it is to be alert to the side effects of drugs. Contamination of food sources by pesticides and industrial waste must also be monitored. Examples of compounds that have been shown to be carcinogenic in laboratory animals (usually in relatively high doses) and that end up in low amounts in human daily food are certain pesticides (DDT and dieldrin). Also industrially contaminated substances need thorough preclinical safety evaluations (e.g., Polychlorinated Biphenyls, Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Moreover, the fact that more and more drugs are withdrawn from circulation after launch also highlights the importance of safety evaluation, in which the Toxicological Pathologist plays a crucial role.

At Global Pathology Support B.V. we provide preclinical pathology support in a GLP-compliant manner (Good Laboratory Practice) for the histopathological assessment of toxicology studies which plays a major role in the safety evaluation of compounds tested. We also use “Whole Slide Images“(W.S.I.’s) in the evaluation of non-clinical GLP-studies by the Board Certified Toxicologic Pathologist.

Whole slide images (W.S.I.’s) have become an essential modern tool for toxicologic pathology in the evaluation of non-clinical GLP-studies. The use of W.S.I.’s in toxicologic pathology has revolutionized the way pathological data is collected, analyzed, and communicated. The additional option for evaluating scans of slides (W.S.I.’s) by the Toxicologic Pathologist is more efficient and has other benefits. 

(GPS) is a consultancy company, founded in 2004 in the Netherlands. GPS specializes in the pre-clinical pathology evaluation of chemicals in toxicology studies for safety assessment. Our services focus on safety of products that are developed by the (bio-)pharmaceutical and chemical industry for registration of e.g. medicines, vaccines. GPS also provides services according to the Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) agreement for the safety evaluation of chemicals in compliance to the OECD-Guidelines.

As part of GPS continuing commitment to enable our clients to reach their development goals, we are now excited, next to conventional histopathology using the light microscope, to also deliver innovative GLP validated Digital Pathology; Full Histopathology Evaluations and Peer Review solutions from preclinical toxicology studies on a Global scale. This option (Digital Pathology) can now also be performed from scans of histology slides from a large number of whole slide image formats (e.g. Hamamatsu, 3DHistech, Olympus, Aperio/Leica, Ventana/Roche, Philips, Zeiss scanners etc).

Read all the information about our new Digital Pathology services in our press release.