ONTOX

What ONTOX does

ONTOX is a publicly funded European research consortium — not a commercial enterprise — that develops, validates, and promotes animal-free methods (New Approach Methodologies, or NAMs) for human chemical risk assessment. Coordinated by Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) under EU Horizon 2020 grant agreement 963845, the project operates with a fixed €17.2 million budget and a defined lifecycle from 1 May 2021 to 31 October 2026. The consortium comprises approximately 20 partners across universities, research institutes, companies, and hospitals in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, and the United States. ONTOX delivers six proof-of-concept NAMs addressing adversities in the liver (steatosis and cholestasis), kidneys (tubular necrosis and crystallopathy), and developing brain (neural tube closure and cognitive function defects).

The core technical product is the ONTOX Hub, a web platform that integrates computational resources including physiological maps (built in CellDesigner and hosted on MINERVA), quantitative Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) networks, ontology frameworks, predictive QSAR models, high-throughput PBK modelling, and AI-based systems. The project has produced a portfolio of AI tools: ToxTransformer (a multi-property prediction model trained on 117 million chemicals and 254 million activity records, predicting 4,000+ toxicological/ADMET/environmental properties); NeuroTox-KPGT (a Knowledge-Guided Graph Transformer pipeline for molecular initiating event prediction); Sysrev (an LLM-powered human-in-the-loop evidence review platform); ToxIndex (an agentic risk assessment orchestration platform); DockTox (molecular docking for MIE-associated proteins); Llemy (a multi-agent GPT-4.1 system for molecular interaction map exploration); and VEGA QSAR models (25 MIE targets). The OPRA framework (ONTOX AI-supported Probabilistic Risk Assessment) ties these tools into a structured, uncertainty-aware risk assessment workflow.

ONTOX has no commercial revenue model. All activities are funded by the Horizon 2020 grant and monetisation is not an objective — the licensing/royalties classification in source data reflects grant flow, not commercial economics. The go-to-market is community-led: stakeholder network meetings, hackathons, webinars (20+ newsletters, 8+ Insights publications), participation in SOT/ESTIV/EUROTOX conferences, and direct engagement with regulatory bodies (ECHA, EFSA, OECD) to secure validation and acceptance. End-user segments targeted are regulatory authorities, pharmaceutical/cosmetics/food/biocide industries, academic researchers, and NGOs advocating animal-free testing. Pricing is non-applicable; outputs are intended to be publicly accessible when the ONTOX Hub launches in the second half of 2026.

Name

ONTOX

Legal name

ONTOX project

Website

https://ontox-project.eu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

ONTOX is an EU Horizon 2020-funded research consortium (€17.2M, May 2021–October 2026) coordinated by Vrije Universiteit Brussel that develops AI-based, animal-free methods for human chemical risk assessment, serving regulatory authorities and the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food, and biocide industries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Computational Toxicology / Chemical Risk Assessment Software

NAICS

Computer Systems Design Services (541512), Other Computer Related Services (541519)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Healthcare Terminology, Ontology & Code Set Management (SNOMED/LOINC/ICD/RxNorm) (HLACAIAF)

Keywords

• Animal-free toxicology
• Computational risk assessment
• New Approach Methodologies
• AI chemical safety
• Next generation risk assessment

Headquarters

HQ city

Brussels

HQ country

Belgium

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. EU Horizon 2020 Research Grant: ONTOX is funded under the EU Horizon 2020 programme (Grant agreement ID: 963845, H2020-EU.3.1.5.) with an overall budget of €17,211,050. The project runs from 1 May 2021 to 31 October 2026. This is a research grant, not commercial revenue.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

ONTOX is an EU Horizon 2020-funded research consortium that develops animal-free New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) for human chemical risk assessment. The project delivers AI-supported computational tools, physiological maps, AOP networks, ontologies, and the OPRA probabilistic risk assessment framework, focused on six NAMs addressing adversities in liver, kidneys, and developing brain. Outputs are consolidated in the ONTOX Hub web platform for use by regulatory authorities, industry, and academia.

Product overview

ONTOX is a European Horizon Europe/Horizon 2020-funded research initiative (grant agreement 963845, budget €17.2M, May 2021–October 2026) coordinated by Vrije Universiteit Brussel. The project delivers a generic strategy for creating innovative New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) to predict systemic repeated dose toxicity without animal testing, focused on six NAMs addressing adversities in liver (steatosis, cholestasis), kidneys (tubular necrosis, crystallopathy), and developing brain (neural tube closure, cognitive function defects). The core product is the ONTOX Hub—a web platform that integrates and provides access to computational resources, AI tools, physiological maps, AOP networks, ontologies, PBPK simulations, and the OPRA probabilistic risk assessment methodology. Key AI-powered tools developed or used within ONTOX include: Sysrev (LLM-based literature review), ToxIndex (agentic risk assessment platform), ToxTransformer (multi-property toxicity prediction), DockTox (molecular docking), VEGA QSAR (QSAR modeling), Llemy (LLM-based molecular map exploration), and NeuroTox-KPGT (deep learning for MIE prediction). These are complemented by ONTOX TV for dissemination, educational webinars, and stakeholder engagement activities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ONTOX Hub A web-based platform providing access to NAMs, computational resources, physiological maps, AOPs, ontologies, predictive toxicity models, PBPK simulations, AI-based systems, the OPRA approach, and curated data collections for chemical risk assessment targeting regulatory authorities, industry, and academia.
• OPRA (ONTOX AI-supported Probabilistic Risk Assessment) An AI-supported probabilistic risk assessment approach integrating exposure assessment, biokinetics, hazard and potency information, ontologies, read-across, NAM-derived evidence, and AI-supported tools into a structured, uncertainty-aware risk assessment workflow for chemical safety.
• ToxTransformer A proprietary multi-property prediction model for chemical toxicity assessment that predicts 4,000+ toxicological, ADMET, and environmental properties simultaneously from molecular structure. Trained on 117 million chemicals and 254 million chemical activity records.
• ToxIndex An agentic platform for regulatory toxicology that integrates data sources, predictive models, and analytical workflows to automate risk assessment processes from hazard identification through regulatory dossier generation.
• Sysrev A human-in-the-loop evidence review platform that accelerates systematic literature review and data extraction workflows using large language models, enabling collaborative screening, annotation, and extraction of structured data from scientific literature.
• DockTox An online molecular docking platform that automatically screens small molecules against a predefined set of proteins associated with molecular initiating events (MIEs) for toxicity endpoints including liver steatosis, cholestasis, nephrotoxicity, neural tube closure, and cognitive functional defects.
• VEGA QSAR Computational QSAR models for prediction of chemical properties and toxicological endpoints, including ML models developed within ONTOX to predict interactions of chemicals with 25 protein targets associated with molecular initiating events.
• Llemy An online LLM-based agentic system for exploratory analysis and summarisation of molecular interaction maps hosted on the MINERVA Platform, using a multi-agent architecture with retrieval and synthesis agents (GPT-4.1).
• NeuroTox-KPGT An automated AI pipeline that converts raw ChEMBL bioactivity data into optimized deep learning models for molecular initiating event prediction, building on the Knowledge-Guided Pre-training of Graph Transformer (KPGT) framework representing chemical structures as knowledge-enriched molecular graphs.

Quantifiable outcome

• 87% of Cmax and 84% of AUC predictions within tenfold using high-throughput PBK modelling
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability7 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• UOS - The School of Environmental Engineering of the University of SeoulminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 June 2024Memorandum of Understanding signed to extend international collaboration on animal-free chemical risk assessment to Asia. Represents ONTOX's effort to build global partnerships for NGRA implementation.
• VHP4Safety - Virtual Human Platform for Safety AssessmentcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 February 2024Memorandum of Understanding signed for joint development of virtual human platforms for safety assessment. Collaboration includes development of shared tools like Llemy and MINERVA platform integration, as well as joint webinars with ASPIS Academy and VHP4Safety ESR network.
• JRC - Joint Research Centre of the European CommissioncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 February 2022Collaboration Agreement signed with JRC to advance the development and regulatory acceptance of animal-free chemical risk assessment methods. JRC provides expertise in validation, regulatory guidance, and European Commission policy alignment for NAM implementation.
• ESTIV - European Society of Toxicology in VitrocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 October 2021Memorandum of Understanding signed with ESTIV to promote collaboration in in vitro toxicology and animal-free testing methods. ESTIV provides a platform for scientific exchange and dissemination of ONTOX outcomes to the toxicology community.
• ASPIS ClustercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerONTOX is part of the ASPIS cluster representing Europe's effort towards sustainable, animal-free and reliable chemical risk assessment. ASPIS unifies multiple EU-funded projects working towards the same vision of phasing out animal testing for chemical safety.
• Disease Maps CommunityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on physiological maps development. Llemy was developed in collaboration with VHP4Safety, the Disease Maps community, and user testing was supported and funded by Elixir Luxembourg.
• Elixir LuxembourgminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupported and funded user testing of the Llemy tool developed within ONTOX. Provides infrastructure and expertise for data management and interoperability.
• EPAA - European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal TestingcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerONTOX researchers participated in the EPAA designathon challenge producing 6 NAMs-based solutions for human systemic toxicity assessment. Collaboration with ECHA and other industry partners for NAM development.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Instem: Instem provides preclinical software and outsourced services for toxicology, including SEND-compliant data capture and in silico tools. Its regulatory workflow software is a meaningful adjacent/competing platform for animal-free safety assessment.
• Lhasa Limited: Lhasa is a well-established, member-funded scientific software company offering in silico toxicology and chemistry solutions (e.g., Derek Nexus, Sarah Nexus). It is a broad incumbent in the same NGRA-adjacent market that ONTOX Hub targets.
• Simulations Plus: Simulations Plus provides PBPK/QSP modeling (GastroPlus, MonolixSuite) and cheminformatics software (ADMET Predictor) used widely in regulatory toxicology. Its PBK and predictive ADMET products overlap with ONTOX HT-PBK and ToxTransformer.
• Cyprotex (part of Evotec): Cyprotex is a contract research organization providing in silico ADMET, PBPK, and in vitro toxicology services to pharma and chemicals. It is a broad incumbent in the same computational/PBPK toxicology space ONTOX targets.

Direct peers

• ProtoQSAR: ProtoQSAR is a development partner inside ONTOX (DockTox, ECCS-DT) and an independent provider of QSAR and in silico prediction services for chemical safety. It directly competes in the same computational toxicology tooling space.

Emerging players

• Toxys: Toxys provides in vitro and in silico toxicity testing services (e.g., ToxTracker, ReproTracker) that complement NAM-based chemical risk assessment. As a Netherlands-based specialist, it is a regional emerging peer in non-animal toxicity testing.
• Leadscope (instance within Instem): Leadscope provides expert alerts and QSAR software for chemical toxicity prediction, including for the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. It is a niche peer in QSAR-based toxicology that overlaps with ToxTransformer and VEGA QSAR.
• Insilica: Insilica developed the proprietary ToxTransformer, ToxIndex, and Sysrev tools used inside ONTOX using US federal grants (NSF/NIH SBIR). It is a direct collaborator and the principal AI/ML technology partner, making it the closest direct peer in AI-driven toxicology.

Others

• CompTox Chemicals Dashboard (US EPA): US EPA's CompTox Chemicals Dashboard is a publicly available reference platform for curated chemical toxicity data and QSAR models. It is an indirect peer enabling chemical safety workflows for regulatory use cases that ONTOX's Hub also targets.
• EU-ToxRisk (project consortium): EU-ToxRisk is the predecessor H2020 project focused on mechanism-based animal-free chemical risk assessment. It is not a company but a closely related EU ecosystem peer whose NAMs and IP feed into the broader ONTOX/ASPIS pipeline.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ONTOX_EUproject
• Facebookfacebook.com/ONTOXEUProject
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ontox

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about ONTOX