Using automated patch clamp electrophysiology platforms in ion channel drug discovery: an industry perspective

INTRODUCTION

Automated patch clamp (APC) is now well established as a mature technology for ion channel drug discovery in academia, biotech and pharma companies, and in contract research organizations (CRO), for a variety of applications including channelopathy research, compound screening, target validation and cardiac safety testing.

AREAS COVERED

Ion channels are an important class of drugged and approved drug targets. The authors present a review of the current state of ion channel drug discovery along with new and exciting developments in ion channel research involving APC. This includes topics such as native and iPSC-derived cells in ion channel drug discovery, channelopathy research, organellar and biologics in ion channel drug discovery.

EXPERT OPINION

It is our belief that APC will continue to play a critical role in ion channel drug discovery, not only in 'classical' hit screening, target validation and cardiac safety testing, but extending these applications to include high throughput organellar recordings and optogenetics. In this way, with advancements in APC capabilities and applications, together with high resolution cryo-EM structures, ion channel drug discovery will be re-invigorated, leading to a growing list of ion channel ligands in clinical development.

New strategies in ion channel screening for drug discovery: are there ways to improve its productivity?

INTRODUCTION

From a drug discovery point of view, ion channels are very interesting and challenging targets. Over the past decade, great efforts have been made in developing platforms for patch clamp-based high-quality screening of ion channels in discovering new drug candidates as well for evaluating their safety profiles. Indeed, the automated patch clamp (APC) has recently reached the data throughput requirements of high-throughput screening (HTS) allowing for new screening strategies with ion channel active compounds.

AREAS COVERED

This editorial article comments on the past and present developments of APC-based drug screening. Furthermore, it also looks at the implications of APC technology meeting HTS-standards as well as its use in compound safety evaluation.

EXPERT OPINION

In the imminent future, we will see a paradigm shift in ion channel drug screening toward using APC-based platforms for primary drug library screens. This way, the redundancy of the drug discovery process and the risk of false-negatives could be drastically reduced. Furthermore, cardiac safety can be addressed early, avoiding late-phase withdrawals with promising drug candidates. It is our firm belief that APC-based ion channel HTS will facilitate the discovery of candidates, which otherwise would have not been found, and shorten the drug development cycle, saving time and cost.