Computational toxicology costs, from the public record

Leadscope pricing and Leadscope Model Applier license cost from 32 federal awards

Instem publishes no price for Leadscope. US federal awards are public, so here is what the NIH, the EPA, the CDC and the Army paid for the toxicity database, the hosted seats and the product suite, beside the activity read-out a toxicity call should be weighed against.

From $149 a month

32 federal awards to Leadscope
Nine flat years at the NIH
Database and models priced apart

The potency read-out a toxicity alert is weighed against

of 3 left

Compound, by name or SMILES

Strain panel

S. aureus (MRSA) E. coli K. pneumoniae (CRE) A. baumannii P. aeruginosa E. faecium (VRE)

Read-out

Include closest published analogs

No account needed. 3 screens per session.

What comes back

Rows: One per strain in the panel
Per row: MIC band, S I R call, mechanism
Support: Confidence 1 to 4 and analogs
Typical run: About ten seconds

Ready to run Nitrofurantoin ESKAPE panel

Nothing predicted until you run

Strain	MIC (µg/mL)	Call	Resistance risk	Conf.
	Pending	Not run	Predicted when you run the screen.
Tick at least one strain in the panel on the left.

Nothing here is predicted yet

These are the strains this page preselected, waiting on a compound. Run the screen and every row fills in with an MIC band, an S / I / R call, the mechanism expected to decide it and a confidence out of four.

Strain	MIC (µg/mL)	Call	Resistance risk	Conf.

Why

Closest published analogs

Want the rest of your series? Batch runs are on the paid tiers. screen left in this session. This session is used up.

Computational prediction from published literature. Research use only, not a lab measurement and not clinical guidance.

NIH, Leadscope product suite, per year Axis from $26,000

The 2012 year was bought through a reseller at $27,672 for the same NIEHS toxicology program, 0.8 percent above the direct price that followed.

The short answer

What Leadscope costs, in one paragraph

Instem does not publish a price for Leadscope. The US federal record does. The NIH renewed the Leadscope product suite at $27,450 a year from 2013 to 2022, then $29,950. The toxicity database alone renewed at $24,950 four years running, and the EPA paid $10,500 for five hosted concurrent users. These are government terms, so a company should read them as a floor for a commercial quote.

The cheapest door in, five users

One paid seat and four free ones at the EPA

The EPA bought Leadscope Hosted for five concurrent users, and the award text spells out the pricing: users two to five at no charge. So the whole fee sits on the first seat, and a team of five paid what one person would. That is the structure to ask for if your group is small.

Paid

Free

FY2013 $10,500 Baseline Leadscope Hosted, 5 concurrent users
FY2014 $11,000 Up 4.8% Same terms, October to September
FY2015 $11,250 Up 2.3% Same terms, includes the toxicity database
FY2016 to FY2018 $13,400 a year Up 19.1% Hosted plus related datasets, $40,200 for 3 years

Two ordinary uplifts, then a three year award at $40,200, about $13,400 a year. The jump coincides with new wording, hosted plus related datasets, so it reads as more scope rather than a price rise. Five hosted users at $10,500 is still the smallest real Leadscope license on record, and it is about 5.9 years of Lab.

Two products on one invoice history

The toxicity database and the software suite are priced separately

For four years the NIH bought both, on separate awards with the same August anniversary. The database renewal read "annual licenses for Leadscope toxicity database" and cost the same every year. The software awards ran beside it. If your team needs the predictions but already has its own study data, the split on this record is the reason to ask for a models only quote.

Toxicity database, NIH

$24,950

2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. Four renewals, not one dollar of change.

Site license, NIH

$56,500

2008, 2009 and 2010, each written against a vendor quote number. The widest license on record.

Enterprise Edition, NCATS

$25,550

2017 renewal of Leadscope Enterprise Edition for one research group at NCATS.

The five year award that proves the rate

From September 2017 the NIH signed one award for five years of Leadscope products at $137,250. That is exactly five times $27,450. The vendor did not discount the long term, and it did not raise it either. If you sign a multi year deal, this is the evidence that a locked annual rate is something Leadscope agrees to.

Through a reseller, a little more

In 2012 the same NIEHS toxicology license was bought through Professional and Scientific Associates for $27,672. The next year it went direct at $27,450. A reseller margin of 0.8 percent is small, but it is the cleanest like for like comparison of direct and reseller pricing we have found for any vendor.

The whole record

Every federal award to Leadscope, oldest first

Thirty two awards written to Leadscope, Inc., read from USAspending.gov, about $1.10m in total. The kind column follows each award's own wording. Research and services awards are listed and kept out of every rate on this page. The record stops in September 2023. Instem's own federal awards since then are for its preclinical data products, not for Leadscope.

Term	Buyer	Kind	How the award describes it	Amount
Nov 2007 to Sep 2008	EPA	License	No description on the award	$10,000
Jun 2008 to Jul 2008	EPA	Database	Leadscope Enterprise and FDA toxicity databases	$34,935
Sep 2008 to Oct 2008	FDA	Services	Database builder fitted to a CFSAN reviewer workflow	$15,000
Sep 2008 to Aug 2009	NIH	Database	Renewal of annual licenses, Leadscope toxicity database	$24,950
Sep 2008 to Sep 2009	NIH	License	Software license renewal, per vendor quote	$56,500
Jul 2009 to Jul 2010	NIH	License	Recorded as ADP and telecom services	$56,500
Sep 2009 to Aug 2010	CDC	License	Modeling software	$27,450
Sep 2009 to Sep 2010	NIH	Database	Annual license renewal, toxicity database	$24,950
Mar 2010 to Mar 2011	EPA	License	Annual license fee for QSAR suite	$30,900
Jun 2010 to Jun 2011	NIH	Research	SBIR Phase I research award	$150,000
Aug 2010 to Jul 2011	CDC	License	Leadscope	$22,450
Aug 2010 to Aug 2011	NIH	License	Leadscope site license, per vendor quote	$56,500
Aug 2010 to Aug 2011	NIH	Database	Annual license renewal, toxicity database	$24,950
Aug 2011 to Aug 2012	NIH	License	Recorded as ADP and telecom services	$32,850
Aug 2011 to Aug 2012	NIH	Database	Annual license renewal, toxicity database	$24,950
Sep 2011 to Sep 2012	EPA	License	Software license renewal	$11,750
Dec 2011 to Dec 2012	Army	License	Base year, annual license	$44,300
Jul 2012 to Aug 2013	NIH	License	Hosted, 1 base concurrent user, 4 incremental users, 1 Pro seat	$36,500
Sep 2012 to Sep 2013	NIH	License	Annual license fee	$9,999
Dec 2012 to Dec 2013	EPA	License	Hosted, 5 concurrent users, users 2 to 5 at no charge	$10,500
Aug 2013 to Aug 2014	NIH	License	Annual renewal, NIEHS toxicology program	$27,450
Jan 2014 to Sep 2014	EPA	License	Hosted, 5 concurrent users, Oct 2013 to Sep 2014	$11,000
Sep 2014 to Aug 2015	NIH	License	Leadscope licenses	$27,450
Sep 2014 to Sep 2015	EPA	License	Hosted, 5 concurrent users, includes toxicity database	$11,250
Jun 2015 to Jun 2016	NIH	License	No description on the award	$12,000
Aug 2015 to Aug 2016	NIH	License	Leadscope renewal	$27,450
Oct 2015 to Sep 2018	EPA	License	Hosted and related datasets, three years	$40,200
Aug 2016 to Aug 2017	NIH	License	No description on the award	$21,000
Sep 2016 to Aug 2017	NIH	License	Leadscope product suite annual subscription	$27,450
Aug 2017 to Sep 2018	NIH, NCATS	License	Renewal, Leadscope Enterprise Edition	$25,550
Sep 2017 to Sep 2022	NIH	License	Annual license, Leadscope products, five years	$137,250
Aug 2022 to Sep 2023	NIH	License	Annual license fee, Leadscope products suite	$29,950

Two figures left out of every rate

The $150,000 award in 2010 is a Small Business Innovation Research grant, development money rather than a license. The $15,000 FDA award in 2008 paid for a database builder fitted to one reviewer workflow, which is custom work. Both appear in the table for completeness and in no average.

What moves your number

Four things that decide a Leadscope quote

Concurrent users, priced in steps

The NIH bought a hosted license as one base concurrent user plus four incremental users and one Pro seat, $36,500 in 2012. The EPA bought five concurrent users with users two to five at no charge. Ask which structure your quote uses, because the first seat carries most of the price.

Which modules

Instem lists ICH M7, skin sensitization, acute oral toxicity, a metabolism suite and an N-nitrosamine CPCA module, on top of more than 100 predictive models. An M7 impurity program needs one module. A full safety group may want five. That is the biggest single swing in the number.

Database, models, or both

The record separates the toxicity database ($24,950 a year at the NIH) from the software suite ($27,450 a year). Instem describes a database of over 600,000 toxicology studies on more than 200,000 chemicals. If you only need predictions, say so, and ask what comes off.

Hosted or installed, one year or three

Instem offers local installation behind your firewall, with web service access on enterprise terms, and describes subscription, pay per use and capped pricing. The EPA paid about 19 percent more a year on its three year award than on the year before, but that award added datasets, so length alone did not raise it.

Where this tool fits, and where it does not

Leadscope tells you if a compound is risky. Potency tells you if the risk is worth it.

A toxicity prediction answers one axis of a two axis decision. For an anti-infective series the other axis is whether the compound inhibits the organisms you care about, and at what concentration. Plot both and most of the decisions make themselves.

Potent, low predicted MIC

Weak, high predicted MIC

No alert

Advance it

Clean and active. This is the compound that earns the plate and the confirmatory MIC.

Park it

Safe and inactive. A clean toxicity profile does not rescue a compound that inhibits nothing.

Alert

Test it, do not drop it

Nitrofurantoin and metronidazole both carry a nitroaromatic alert and both are approved antibacterials. Potency is what justifies an Ames test.

Drop it

Risky and inactive. No reason to spend an assessment on it, let alone a plate.

We supply the horizontal axis: a predicted MIC band per organism across a 6 strain ESKAPE panel, with the mechanism class and the closest published analogs. Run your series through MIC prediction software first, or push the same calls into your registration system through the antibacterial screening API, and the toxicity assessment only has to cover compounds worth assessing.

Who reads this page

Six reasons people look this number up

You run ICH M7 impurity assessments

Price the Leadscope seat against a signed figure, $27,450 a year for the product suite, before the first call.

You are facing a Leadscope renewal

The NIH paid the same amount nine years running. A flat renewal is the documented norm, not a favor.

You need two or three seats, not a site

Five hosted EPA users cost $10,500 to $11,250 a year. Small groups have a public reference too.

You are choosing between M7 tools

Put Leadscope beside Derek and Sarah Nexus and MultiCASE CASE Ultra, each priced from the same federal record.

You screen anti-infectives

A mutagenicity alert means little until you know the compound inhibits anything. Read the potency first.

You are building a safety budget

Database and models were bought separately here. Budget the line you actually need.

Leadscope is usually shortlisted against two other M7 tools. The Derek Nexus pricing record covers Lhasa's expert rule system and the Sarah statistical pair, and MultiCASE CASE Ultra pricing covers the FDA's flat CASE Ultra license. For ADME rather than toxicity, see ADMET Predictor price, and the drug discovery software cost pillar puts every suite we have priced side by side.

Questions people ask before buying

Leadscope pricing, answered plainly

How much does Leadscope cost?

Instem publishes no price. Public US federal awards show what government labs paid. The NIH renewed the Leadscope product suite at $27,450 a year from 2013 to 2022, including a five year award of exactly $137,250, then $29,950 in 2022. The EPA paid $10,500 to $11,250 a year for five hosted concurrent users. Commercial quotes come off a separate sheet.

How much does Leadscope Model Applier cost?

There is no list price. Instem describes subscription, pay per use and capped pricing for Model Applier, with the price set by modules, users and deployment. The nearest public figures are the NIH product suite at $27,450 a year and the NCATS Leadscope Enterprise Edition renewal at $25,550 in 2017. Treat both as a floor for a commercial quote.

Who owns Leadscope?

Instem. Instem completed its acquisition of Leadscope on November 15, 2019, and now sells Leadscope Model Applier inside its in silico solutions. Leadscope was founded in Columbus, Ohio. Federal awards kept going to Leadscope, Inc. after the deal, through September 2023, so the record continues across the change of ownership.

Is Leadscope a subscription?

On the public record, yes. Every Leadscope award is an annual license, an annual renewal or a multi year term, and the 2016 NIH award calls it a product suite annual subscription. Instem now also describes pay per use and capped pricing, which suits a group that runs an M7 assessment a few times a year rather than every week.

How often does Leadscope raise its prices?

Rarely, on this record. The toxicity database renewed at $24,950 four years in a row, and the product suite at $27,450 for nine. The only step in that series is 9.1 percent in 2022. The EPA hosted license moved 4.8 and 2.3 percent, then 19.1 percent on a three year term that added datasets.

Does Leadscope cover ICH M7?

Yes. Instem lists an ICH M7 module for pharmaceutical impurity assessment in Leadscope Model Applier, and ICH M7 asks for two complementary (Q)SAR methods, one expert rule based and one statistical. Check that your quote covers both methodologies for bacterial mutagenicity, since that is what a regulator expects to see.

What are the alternatives to Leadscope?

The tools most often compared for ICH M7 are Lhasa Derek Nexus with Sarah Nexus, and MultiCASE CASE Ultra. Five EPA users paid $14,651 for Derek, Meteor and Sarah in 2025, and the FDA paid $15,000 a year for CASE Ultra with META Ultra. Compare them on the same endpoints and user count.

Does Leadscope predict antibacterial activity?

No. Leadscope predicts toxicity endpoints: mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, skin sensitization, acute toxicity and metabolism. It does not predict whether a compound inhibits Staphylococcus aureus or Klebsiella pneumoniae. That read-out comes from an MIC assay or from a pre-trained activity model, and it is the number a toxicity alert has to be weighed against.

Pricing

Published, monthly, and on this page

Full plan comparison

Lab is $149 a month for 250 screens with batches up to 50 compounds, which is $1,788 across a year. Discovery is $499 for 2,000 screens, batches up to 1,000, and adds the API. Program is $1,490 for 10,000 screens with batches up to 10,000. One year of the NIH Leadscope suite at $27,450 would pay for about 15.4 years of Lab, or 4.6 years of Discovery. The comparison is only fair for the potency call, which is the one we make.

Save 50 percent with yearly billing, charged once a year.

Lab

$74 /mo

$888 charged once a year

250 screens a month against the standard panels, with CSV export.

Get started

Academic AMR lab, 1 to 2 chemists

Discovery

Know which compounds are worth a toxicity assessment

Paste a compound you already know the MIC for, read the panel, then run the series your safety team is about to assess.

Run a screen first

What you are agreeing to

Your compounds stay yours
Never used for model training
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