Microsoft word - cambridge bioscience chantest press release 4-16-07 final …

Safety Testing & Discovery Services
14656 Neo Parkway Phone: (216) 332 -1665
Cleveland, OH 44128
World’s Most Trusted Ion
Channel Services Company

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cambridge BioScience appointed as European Distributor for ChanTest

CLEVELAND, OH. APRIL 16, 2007 – ChanTest, Inc. (Cleveland, Ohio, USA) today announced its
appointment of Cambridge BioScience as its new European Distributor.
ChanTest's primary focus is on a family of proteins known as ion channels that may be either deliberate
therapeutic targets for new drug development, or unintended targets that can result in unwanted side-
effects from new drugs.
ChanTest pioneered the hERG potassium channel assay as a preclinical predictor of cardiac side effects
in non-cardiac drugs, and provided the first proof that hERG was the target for adverse cardiac events
linked to the non-cardiac drugs Seldane (terfenadine), Propulsid (cisapride), and Nizoral (ketoconazole).
They were also the first to demonstrate that adverse cardiac events could be linked to drug-induced
inhibition of hERG trafficking. To date, ChanTest has tested more than 10,000 compounds for over 200
companies world-wide, helping them to achieve their drug safety and discovery goals. The testing of new
drugs for potential side-effects of this kind has now become an important part of any regulatory
submission to the FDA.
Under the terms of the Agreement, Cambridge BioScience will support ChanTest and its clients by
providing technical, commercial and logistics support throughout Europe.
"ChanTest have been pioneers in the development of new technologies in the ion channel safety and
screening arena for many years” said Mike Kerins, Managing Director of Cambridge BioScience. “We are
delighted to be working with them as their commercial partner in Europe. We expect to see significant
growth in this market as a result of the increased uptake of predictive screening assays of this kind and
as a consequence of the rapidly growing interest in ion channels as primary targets in areas such as pain
and epilepsy research. ChanTest’s scientific leadership in this field combined with their rigorous FDA-
inspected GLP standards will make them an important partner for many drug development organisations
throughout Europe.”
"We are enthused about the opportunity of providing improved service for our European customers
through our relationship with Cambridge BioScience” said Bob Schultek, Vice President of Business
Development for ChanTest. Their extensive experience in serving the European biosciences market,
coupled with ChanTest’s expanding ion channel profiling capabilities and nonclinical safety assessment
services, present a beneficial combination of resources for the European market that is second to none.”
About CAMBRIDGE BIOSCIENCE
Cambridge BioScience has a long track record of bringing innovative life science research technologies to researchers in the UK. Working with predominantly US based suppliers, Cambridge BioScience identifies emerging companies that have developed technologies which will advance the research efforts of its customers who span the entire life science research marketplace. Our core expertise is in genomic and proteomic technologies, cell based research and drug discovery. Recently we have expanded our activities to work with technology companies that are targeting the European Biotech & Pharma markets and whose technology is more complex and flexible than most ChanTest
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reagent businesses. Examples include providers of cell based assays and biomarker discovery
technologies. We aim to introduce these technologies to the European market and to support the rapid
growth of these businesses in the important European market.
About CHANTEST
ChanTest is an ion channel specialty company that has provided safety and discovery services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies since 1998, earning a reputation as the world’s most trusted ion channel services company (2006 HTStec survey of Ion Channel Trends). ChanTest is the global leader in cell-based assays of hERG and other ion channels, providing GLP and non-GLP, manual and automated patch clamp assays. In addition to ion channel studies, ChanTest provides Purkinje fiber Action Potential Duration and isolated heart QT prolongation assays for safety assessment, as well as functional ion channel profiling screens for discovery and early development. ChanTest is currently assembling the market’s most comprehensive catalog of ion channel-expressing
cell lines. The catalog contains 30 different ion channels at present and is adding a new channel every
two weeks. Each cell line is fully validated by cDNA sequence, Western blot, manual patch clamp, and
automated patch clamp characterization of gating, current-voltage relationship and pharmacology. By
assisting its customers with ion channel profiling during discovery and early development, followed by
subsequent safety testing of drug candidates, ChanTest helps identify more prospective compounds
earlier, and contributes to accelerating its customers’ drug development process.
For additional information regarding this announcement, please contact:
Cambridge BioScience Limited
Mike Kerins
www.bioscience.co.uk
ChanTest, Inc.
Bob Schultek
Vice President of Business Development
ChanTest, Inc.
14656 Neo Parkway
Cleveland
OH 44128
Tel: 216.332.1665
Fax: 216.332.1706
Email: [email protected]
www.chantest.com

Source: http://www.ampersandcapital.com/downloads/pdfs/news/20070416-CambridgeBioScience.pdf