New cardiac safety testing guidelines are being finalised, as part of the FDA’s Comprehensive in vitro Proarrhythmia Assay (CiPA) initiative, which aim to remove the over-reliance on screening against the hERG channel by expanding the panel to include hNav1.5, hCav1.2, hKv4.3/KChiP2.2, hKir2.1 and hKv7.1/KCNE1 human cardiac ion channels. In addition, the CiPA working groups have recently identified two additional in vitro assays required for in silico models to reliably predict proarrhythmia. The first is a ‘late’ sodium current assay, as inhibition of persistent inward current can affect repolarisation and mitigate proarrhythmia (e.g. ranolazine). The second assay quantifies the degree of drug trapping in the hERG channel using the Milnes voltage protocol⁽¹⁾, which can improve the prediction of proarrhythmic risk⁽²⁾.

Metrion Biosciences’ CEO Dr Andrew Southan presents an overview of Metrion Biosciences, highlighting the company’s vision, expertise and services. December 10th, 2020.

The cardiac late Na+ current (late INa) generates persistent inward currents throughout the plateau phase of the ventricular action potential and is an important determinant of repolarisation rate, EADs and arrythmia risk. As inhibition of late INa can offset drug effects on hERG and other repolarising K+ conductances it is one of the key cardiac channels in the Comprehensive in vitro Proarrythmia Assay CiPA panel being developed by the FDA to improve human clinical arrythmia risk assessment.

Marc Rogers (Metrion CSO) presents a talk at the Nanion Virtual User Meeting 2020 entitled “Designing multiple assay protocols for ligand-gated ion channels using the stacked-tip feature on the Patchliner and SP384i platforms”. 14th October 2020.

The FDA’s Comprehensive in vitro Proarrhythmia Assay (CiPA) initiative is designed to remove the over-reliance on hERG data to predict human clinical cardiac risk, with recent results suggesting that inclusion of additional cardiac ion channels and assays (e.g. peak and late Nav1.5, Cav1.2, dynamic hERG) improve risk predictions of in silico action potential models.

Marc Rogers (Metrion CSO) takes part in a collaborative webinar with Nanion Technologies entitled “Validation and optimization of automated patch-clamp voltage-gated Ca2+ channel assays”.

Domainex and Metrion Biosciences have formed an alliance to identify new chemical hits against ion-channel targets. Key to this collaboration are Domainex’s experience in hit identification and Metrion Bioscience’s expertise in ion channel screening and pharmacology.

Activated effector memory T-cells (TEM) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases.1 TEM cells express high levels of the voltage-gated potassium channel, Kv1.3, which plays a role in controlling the function of TEM. Inhibition of Kv1.3 reduces the release of pro-inflammatory mediators, inhibits T-cell proliferation and migration to inflamed tissues, and has been shown to ameliorate autoimmune disease symptoms in preclinical animal models.

Presentation by Marc Rogers, CSO Metrion Biosciences, Nanion technologies Exhibitor session, 2020 Biophysical Society meeting, San Diego USA.

As part of the the LabTube meets series of interviews Marc Rogers, Metrion Biosciences CSO, outlines the benefits of targeting ion channels for pain and some of the hurdles in developing successful ion channel modulators.