Sunnyvale, California, September 18 2013 – Molecular Devices® today announced the launch of the EarlyTox™ Cardiotoxicity Kit, a fast, simple and reliable fluorescence-based kit for identifying cardiotoxicity of drug candidates early in the discovery process. This allows researchers to prioritize lead compounds and drug candidates, and direct medicinal chemistry efforts sooner, improving productivity and reducing costs associated with downstream safety testing. The kit may also enable the discovery of new cardiac drug candidates.
The EarlyTox Cardiotoxicity Kit measures changes in cytoplasmic calcium which are associated with cardiomyocyte beating. The kit combines a novel calcium sensitive dye and proprietary masking technology, resulting in the largest dynamic range and enhanced discrimination of beat pattern detail. Unlike other calcium dyes, the new dye formulation minimizes non-specific effects on beat characteristics.
The optimized calcium-sensitive dye formulation binds with calcium ions in the cell cytoplasm, enabling measurement of any changes in calcium concentration. The masking technology remains outside the cell and acts to reduce extracellular background fluorescence. When compared to traditional safety assays, this robust, high throughput assay format measures 384 samples in minutes rather than hours.
Kevin Chance, President of Molecular Devices, commented: “Highly predictive and biologically relevant in vitro assays suitable for high throughput screening are critical to improving efficiencies and reducing the high costs associated with compounds that fail during cardiac safety assessment. When paired with the FLIPR® Tetra System, and other microplate readers from Molecular Devices, the EarlyTox Cardiotoxicity Kit is a powerful tool in eliminating cardiotoxic compounds earlier in the drug discovery process.”
For more details, please visit www.moleculardevices.com/cardiotox
Contacts
Media contact:
Sarah Jeffery
Zyme Communications
T: +44 7771 730 919
E: sarah.jeffery@zymecommunications.com
Twitter: zymecomms
At Molecular Devices
Jennifer McKie
Vice President, Global Marketing
E: jennifer.mckie@moldev.com
T: +1 408 747 3514
About Molecular Devices, LLC
Molecular Devices is one of the world’s leading providers of high-performance bioanalytical measurement systems, software and consumables for life science research, pharmaceutical and biotherapeutic development. Included within a broad product portfolio are platforms for high-throughput screening, genomic and cellular analysis, colony selection and microplate detection. These leading-edge products enable scientists to improve productivity and effectiveness, ultimately accelerating research and the discovery of new therapeutics.
Molecular Devices is committed to the continual development of innovative solutions for life science applications. The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices around the globe.
For more information about the complete product portfolio, visit www.moleculardevices.com
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