Xention Limited (“Xention”), the Cambridge-based biopharmaceutical company specialising in the development of new drugs for atrial fibrillation, announced today the launch of Metrion Biosciences (www.metrionbiosciences.com), a contract screening business focused on providing comprehensive and high quality ion channel services to the pharma and biotech industry. Metrion Biosciences will provide customers with dedicated ion channel screening and assay development expertise to support enhanced cardiac safety assessment and the progression of drug discovery projects.
The Metrion Biosciences team, led by Dr Marc Rogers, VP Research, has extensive experience of ion channel research, having brought five new Xention ion channel drug candidates to the clinic, conducted multiple research collaborations with international pharma businesses, and completed several UK and European grant projects. Dr Rogers is assisted by experienced ion channel Principal Scientists Dr Kathy Sutton and Dr Rob Kirby.
Metrion Biosciences intends to launch a new panel of in vitro cardiac ion channel and human cardiomyocyte assays for better detection of cardiac safety risks in new drugs, and will work towards full accreditation of its panel under the FDA’s new Comprehensive In Vitro Proarrhythmia Assay initiative (CIPA). In addition, Metrion will market its panel of neurological ion channel assays for pharmaceutical companies to profile and de-risk new drug candidates.
“With global demand for high quality ion channel assay services growing steadily, we have identified an opportunity to commercialise Xention’s long standing specialist expertise in ion channel biology. Xention was one of the pioneers of automated patch clamp electrophysiology and our deep experience of this field has enabled the company to collaborate in ion channel research with a number of international pharmaceutical businesses while at the same time developing a portfolio of potential breakthrough drugs for the treatment of atrial fibrillation,” commented Dr Keith McCullagh, Chairman of Xention. “Metrion Biosciences represents a new initiative to commercialise our specialist ion channel expertise on a fee-for-service basis which will be more convenient and accessible for our customers.”