Excellerate and Biocell Energetics partner to advance mitochondrial toxicity screening

Excellerate Bioscience and Biocell Energetics have partnered to deliver a two-stage platform for mitochondrial toxicity screening and mechanistic assessment in early-stage drug discovery.

The partnership brings together Excellerate’s pharmacology expertise with Biocell’s deep experience in mitochondrial bioenergetic analysis. The result is a two-stage screening platform that combines high throughput mitochondrial toxicity assays with Seahorse XF technology for high-resolution analysis of cellular metabolism.

The platform enables early identification of mitochondrial toxicity risks, helping clients reduce project attrition and improve the efficiency of lead optimisation. By triaging compound libraries through a fast, scalable assay cascade, it supports better-informed progression decisions and de-risks downstream development.

Ben Moore, Associate Director at Excellerate Bioscience, said: “This collaboration gives us an opportunity to bring together throughput and expertise in a format that’s directly applicable to client drug discovery workflows. By combining robust screening with in-depth mechanistic analysis, we can offer greater insight into mitochondrial liabilities.”

The partnership includes joint optimisation of screening protocols, proof-of-concept data generation across relevant human cell models, and a shared strategy for marketing and outreach. A video case study with Promega is planned to showcase platform capabilities.

Jonathan Barlow, Founder at Biocell Energetics, added: “Our partnership with Excellerate is designed to provide researchers with a complete, scalable solution to investigate mitochondrial toxicity. This integrated platform will support both early triage and Biocell's detailed characterisation and consultancy, enabling smarter decision-making in preclinical development.”

The platform is now live, with example datasets already informing collaborative case studies and upcoming conference presentations. To learn more about how this integrated screening approach could benefit your pipeline, contact our team to discuss your requirements.