A comparison between COMPACT and Hazard expert evaluations for 80 chemicals tested by the NTP/NCI rodent bioassays

By Brown, S.J. - Raja, A.A. - Lewis, D.F.V.

A total of 80 structurally diverse chemicals for which rodent carcinogenicity data are known, have been evaluated by two predictive computer-based systems, COMPACT and Hazardexpert. The results demonstrate that these two predictive test procedures are, to some extent, complementary, in that COMPACT can identify carcinogens which require metabolic activation, whereas Hazardexpert is able to provide an alert for potentially direct-acting agents. In this study, COMPACT was able to identify correctly most rodent carcinogens, and the Hazardexpert system showed a high concordance with non-carcinogens, in particular. It is suggested that some form of combined approach to the use of predictive methods in chemical safety evaluation may represent a way forward for the future.