Action 2 established the exact criteria for the evaluation of alternative methods, considering the guidance document from ECHA, the general official guidelines, the requirements of the specific regulation (REACH), the RIP documents on REACH, the necessary quality of data, and the specific criteria for the algorithms. A survey of the criteria has been done, assigning scores for method evaluation.

The REACH legislation promotes the use of non-testing methods (NTM), which are all the approaches used to predict the effects of chemical compounds without the use of the real chemical compound, but on the basis of the chemical structure only and comprise a series of different tools whose commonality lies in the identification of a relation between chemical structure and exhibited activity or toxicity.

There are different types of NTM to assess activity and/or toxicity of chemicals, among them Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) methods are the most used. QSAR is the process by which chemical structure is quantitatively correlated with a well-defined process, such as biological activity or chemical reactivity.

As the project has the main target to analyze the use of NTM in accordance to REACH, and to identify suitable method, the first step has been to identify relevant criteria for comparing QSAR methods.

A list of them has been established. They have been divided into main (more important) and additional criteria. For each of them a particular score has been decided based on the importance of the criterion.

Using the criteria here identified, in the following Actions we will first identify available QSAR models which could be used for REACH. Then, if there is more than one method for the same endpoint, we will rank them, using the proposed scoring system.

Deliverable 2: Report on the identified criteria for non-testing methods, and their scoresPlease note that this document has been updated on October 3rd 2011 from a previous version. Please note that this document has been updated on October 3rd 2011 from a previous version.

PLANNED ACTIVITY PERIOD: January 2010 - September 2010 (9 MONTHS)
CURRENT STATUS: ACCOMPLISHED