QSAR or Read-Across in Cosmetic Safety? Wrong question!

👍Both QSARs and Read-Across are widely accepted tools in animal-free safety assessment. 

❓Yet in cosmetic safety discussions, this question keeps coming up: 

𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘄𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗤𝗦𝗔𝗥𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱-𝗔𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀?

The problem is they are not designed to replace one another. They address different scientific questions and help manage different types of uncertainty.

𝗤𝗦𝗔𝗥𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼:

✅ Quickly screen ingredients

✅ Work with well-studied endpoints

✅ Evaluate substances within model limits

✅ Obtain fast, consistent predictions

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱-𝗔𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲:

✅ Suitable analogues with relevant data

✅ A need for biological or mechanistic reasoning

✅ Safety assessments with higher uncertainty

✅ A stronger justification for decisions

In practice, robust cosmetic safety assessments rarely rely on just one approach. 

🚀 QSARs help identify potential concerns. 

🚀 Read-Across helps strengthen confidence in conclusions.

💡𝗤𝗦𝗔𝗥𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱-𝗔𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻’𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆’𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.

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Contributed by Faizan Sahigara, in silico (QSAR) expert and Business Developer at CEHTRA