Automated Patch Clamp in CROs: How Automated Patch Clamp is advancing cardiac safety assessment

Automated patch clamp (APC) technology is now an integral part of cardiac safety assessment strategies of new chemical entities (NCEs). With their high throughput & lowering of technical hurdles, APCs have made cardiac safety pharmacology far faster, easier & more efficient, overcoming the drug discovery bottleneck that had arisen using manual patch clamp. For the 1st decade of APCs, the chemically promiscuous hERG channel dominated APC ion channel cardiac safety assay development. Since 2013, with the formation of Comprehensive in vitro Proarrhythmia Assay (CiPA) programme, there’s been a concerted effort amongst drug discovery safety experts to standardise safety assays across a wider range of cardiac ion channels, defining their interactions & how drugs collectively modulate their currents to evaluate their proarrhythmic risk.

In this webinar, Sophion’s Dr Anders Lindqvist will give an introduction to how APCs have revolutionised our capabilities to efficiently determine cardiac safety liabilities & how the latest advances in APC technology are making tomorrow’s drugs safer.

Our guest speaker will be Dr Michael Morton of ApconiX, a CRO that specialises in drug toxicology & safety assessment. Dr Morton will present examples of cardiac ion channel safety pharmacology studies showcasing the development of APC technologies & where the latest technology will take our drug discovery efforts.