Metrion Biosciences Launches Na v 1.9 High-Throughput Screening Assay to Strengthen Screening Portfolio and Advance Research on New Medicines for Pain
CAMBRIDGE, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Metrion Biosciences ('Metrion'), the specialist preclinical contract research organisation (CRO) and a global leader in ion channel services, today announced the launch of its validated, high-throughput Na V 1.9 screening assay to advance discovery and development of novel pain therapeutics. Leveraging over a decade of electrophysiology expertise, the Na V 1.9 assay, alongside Metrion's unique combination of ion channel expertise, bespoke assays and pain research services, enables researchers to overcome traditional limitations of Na V 1.9 screening and generate reproducible and decision-ready data.
Na V 1.9 is a voltage-gated sodium channel selectively expressed in peripheral sensory neurones that plays a key role in pain signalling. Mutations in Na V 1.9 are associated with both severe pain and pain insensitivity in humans. Despite its potential as a non-opioid therapeutic target, research has been limited by difficulties developing stable heterologous expression systems.
Metrion's new Na V 1.9 assay complements the Company's existing portfolio of efficacy and safety screening assays, adding new capabilities to accelerate and de-risk preclinical programmes, unlocking deeper insights into Na V 1.9 pharmacology. Designed using a stable and validated CHO cell line, the assay has been developed and optimised in-house for high reproducibility and low variability and is available using both human- and rat-derived clones, providing insights into species selectivity for the development of more efficacious therapeutics.
The assay completes the Company's full suite of pain-related sodium channel assays to provide selectivity profiling across Na V 1.1 to Na V 1.9. Metrion's offering features a comprehensive portfolio of off-target counter screens, including other pain related ion channel targets and a CiPA panel for cardiac safety risk assessment. The Company also provides access to manual clamp-based mechanistic and translational assays, and automated patch clamp using the Qube 384 to provide highly sensitive, rapid analysis of large candidate libraries. Additional support for hit-to-lead and lead optimisation, streamlining compound evaluation and reducing project timelines is also provided.
' The availability of effective assays to study the Na V 1.9 sodium channel has been a major stumbling block that has held back development of the next generation of non-opioid pain therapeutics,' said Dr Eddy Stevens, Chief Scientific Officer, Metrion Biosciences. 'Metrion is now able to offer a unique combination of sodium channel expertise, high-throughput screening solutions and research services. These cover the full suite of pain-related sodium channels. By facilitating streamlined compound evaluation and accelerated lead optimisation, this service offering has the potential to bring novel pain therapeutics to market rapidly and more cost-effectively. This important launch represents a major milestone for Metrion, a testament to the dedication and knowledge of our team and reinforces our position as leading the field in ion channel drug discovery. '
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