CLEVELAND, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- ChanTest, the preeminent provider of validated ion channel-expressing cell lines and services for drug-discovery and development applications, will exhibit its expanding line of ion channel services and cell lines in booth 5 at the Ion Channel Targets conference in San Francisco September 9 and 10. ChanTest designed its ion channel cell lines and services to help drug-discovery researchers speed the drug-development process, save time and money, and ultimately -- to help make better, safer drugs. They are also becoming valuable new tools to help rescue shelved pharmaceutical compounds. Dr. Arthur (Buzz) Brown, ChanTest's founder and CEO, will address conference attendees in a presentation entitled, "Ion Channel Panels for Safety Assessment and Drug Discovery" on Tuesday, September 9th at 2:30.
"There are 400 genes encoding ion channels in the human genome, and countless more ion channels can be assembled from this gene collection," said Dr. Brown. "Ion channels control major bodily functions, including excitation, contraction, secretion, and fluid volume. As such, they have become valuable primary targets for new drug therapies for hypertension, arrhythmia, epilepsy, diabetes, and many other diseases. But too often, drug-development researchers identify unacceptable safety risks late in the drug-development process -- during the GLP patch-clamp studies that are required for IND submission. When completed early in the drug-discovery process, ChanTest's functional ion channel screens can save considerable time, money, and other resources. We set the standard for selectivity and safety profiling of drug candidates. Unlike most service organizations, we validate our cell lines for testing at each phase of the drug-discovery process. Whether you need initial high-throughput screening of hits, high-sensitivity screens for lead identification and lead optimization, or safety testing in preparation for an IND submission -- your ChanTest results will correlate."
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 Fourth Annual Ion Channel Targets Conference and Exhibition takes place September 9-10, 2008 at the South San Francisco Conference Center.
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: Media, Caroline A. Grossman, +1-781-771-5579,
caroline.grossman@gmail.com; or Robert D. Schultek, +1-216-332-1665, ext.
108, C: +1-216-272-4449, rschultek@chantest.com
Web site: http://www.chantest.com/
