HTS APPROACHES TO VOLTAGE-GATED ION-CHANNEL DRUG DISCOVERY

Voltage-gated ion channels are emerging as a target class of increasin g importance to the pharmaceutical industry because of their relevance to a wide variety of diseases in the cardiovascular, CNS and metaboli c areas. In the quest to identify novel lead molecules against these t argets, drug discovery programmes are increasingly making use of HTS a pproaches. The authors describe the current technologies available for voltage-gated ion-channel screening, their application to HTS campaig ns and the current limitations and emerging technologies within this a rea.