OREANDA-NEWS. April 15, 2015. Cyprotex PLC (AIM:CRX), a specialist ADME-Tox Contract Research Organisation (CRO), announced today the launch of a new in vitro service to identify potential cardiotoxic liabilities of pharmaceuticals. The service combines state of the art 3D cell culture methods and confocal high content imaging technology.

The 3D microtissues are formed from a co-culture of 3 different types of cardiac cells present in the heart. Using this method, the cells are able to beat spontaneously in a similar manner to a human heart.

Confocal high content imaging technology uses fluorescent dyes to stain particular regions of the cell to identify changes in response to increasing doses of pharmaceutical drugs. Using this technology, Cyprotex's research shows that the new 3D microtissue model is able to accurately identify drugs which cause structural damage to the heart. The service is complementary to our other cardiotoxicity assays such as eCiphrCardio which evaluates changes in electrical activity in the heart which may lead to cardiac arrhythmia. By combining these techniques and using a more holistic approach, Cyprotex are able to capture a wide range of cardiotoxic liabilities using in vitro methods.

Dr Anthony Baxter, Cyprotex's Chief Executive Officer, comments: 'Drug induced cardiovascular toxicity is the leading cause of attrition during drug development. Our expertise in the field of in vitro toxicology has enabled us to develop a highly predictive and sophisticated model for correctly identifying cardiotoxicity which can be applied at an early stage of the drug development process.'

Cyprotex recently presented this research at the Society of Toxicology conference in San Diego in March 2015. More details of the new service can be found on the Cyprotex website http://www.cyprotex.com/3d-cardiac-microtissues