CiPA: Ongoing testing, future qualification procedures, and pending issues

IntroductionThe comprehensive in vitro proarrhythmia assay (CiPA) is a nonclinical, mechanism-based paradigm for assessing drug proarrhythmic liability.Topics coveredThe first CiPA assay determines effects on cloned human cardiac ion channels. The second investigates whether the latter study-generated metrics engender proarrhythmic markers on a computationally reconstructed human ventricular action potential. The third evaluates conclusions from, and searches possibly missed effects by in silico analysis, in human stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hSC-CMs). CiPA ad hoc Expert-Working Groups have proposed patch clamp protocols for seven cardiac ion channels, a modified O'Hara-Rudy model for in silico analysis, detailed procedures for field (MEA) and action potential (VSD) measurements in hSC-CMs, and 29 reference drugs for CiPA assay testing and validation.DiscussionCiPA adoption as drug development tool for identifying electrophysiological mechanisms conferring proarrhythmic liability to candidate drugs is a complex, multi-functional task requiring significant time, reflection, and efforts to be fully achieved.