Molecular Devices Introduces EarlyTox Cardiotoxicity Kit

Molecular Devices has 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 prioritise 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 minimises non-specific effects on beat characteristics.

The optimised 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 with 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.”