The assessment of potential leads for liability to QT prolongation is an essential process in the field. Although many researchers use measurement of ionic currents through hERG (IKr) channels as a primary safety assessment screen, there has been no conclusive evidence of the predictive value of these screens in clinical testing. Adopting in vivo QT measurement studies at an early stage in the discovery process would yield important information on the potential of compounds for QT prolongation in humans. The benefit is that QT-prolonging compounds are removed early from the discovery pipeline. Conversely, more time and resources are devoted to those compounds not prolonging QT.
Looking for preclinical safety screening? Get preclinical screening of your compounds in functional in vitro and in vivo screens. We can screen for a set of TEN CARDIAC ION CHANNEL targets including hERG, Nav1.5, Na,K-ATPase and other targets. Aurora Biomed's screens are very sensitive and robust, and can help in reducing time, cost and compound attrition.