CLEVELAND, Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- ChanTest, the leading CRO provider of ion channel testing services for drug-discovery and development, will feature the latest in its expanding line of services in booth 702 at the Safety Pharmacology Society conference September 23-24, in Madison, Wisconsin. New FDA Critical Path safety profiling tools include the Cardiac, CNS, CVS, and Respiratory System Channel Panels(TM) designed to complement the FDA and ICH S7A and S7B safety guidances. Therapeutic panels include Pain/Inflammation and Epilepsy Channel Panels.
According to Dr. Arthur (Buzz) Brown, ChanTest's founder and CEO, ChanTest has validated the panels against the "gold standard" manual patch clamp to ensure that results from early screens will correlate with GLP studies in IND submissions. "Unlike other CROs that have ion channel testing as a small component of services, ChanTest has built its name and strong reputation over the years as the experts in ion channels. We work with customers offering a continuum of discovery and safety services. We don't just provide raw results, we can tell you what the results mean and can often provide recommendations on how to improve a target's safety profile toward a successful IND submission."
ChanTest will present three posters at the conference:
#44 Cardiac Channel Panel(TM): A Critical Path Tool for Understanding Cardiac Risk
#48 Incidence and Specificity of Drug-Induced Trafficking Inhibition of Cardiac Ion Channels
#121 hERG vs. APD/QT Results Often Discordant: Fast and Accurate Repolarization Screen a Necessity Early in Development James W. Kramer,
ChanTest scientists were the first to prove hERG as the target for adverse cardiac events linked to non-cardiac drugs: Seldane (terfenadine), Propulsid (cisapride), and Nizoral (ketoconazole), and ChanTest pioneered the development of functional, cell-based ion channel testing as a means to predict cardiac side effects produced by non-cardiac drugs. Such testing is now a standard component of regulatory submissions prior to the approval of drugs for use in humans. ChanTest is committed to innovation, and is leading the next major advance in ion channel research and services with a $10 million program to develop the world's most extensive library or catalog of ion channels. ChanTest's expert electrophysiologists fully validate the ion channels for interrogation with functional, pharmacological, and biochemical assays.
The Eighth Annual Safety Pharmacology Society conference and exhibition takes place September 22-25, 2008 at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center in Madison, Wisconsin.
About ChanTest
The preeminent ion channel services company, ChanTest serves its drug discovery and development customers with GLP safety and automated screening assays using its library of ion channel-expressing cell lines -- the most comprehensive in the world. Since its inception in 1998, ChanTest has tested more than 18,000 compounds for more than 250 global pharmaceutical and biotech companies -- helping them to achieve their drug safety and discovery goals. ChanTest works in partnership with customers to speed the drug-development process, save time and money, and ultimately -- to help make better, safer drugs. Because of ChanTest's seminal role in this field, along with the company's uncompromising commitment to quality, ChanTest was named "most trusted fee-for-service provider" for ion channel screening in the HTStec Ion Channel Trends Survey for two years in a row. ChanTest is based in Cleveland, Ohio. For more information, please visit www.chantest.com.
CONTACT: Caroline A. Grossman, +1-781-771-5579,
caroline.grossman@gmail.com, for ChanTest; or Robert D. Schultek of
ChanTest, +1-216-332-1665 ext. 108, cell: +1-216-272-4449,
rschultek@chantest.com
Web site: http://www.chantest.com/
