Ion channels in drug discovery and development.

An excellent meeting on ion channels in drug discovery and development was organised by the Strategic Research Institute. Recent progress in the molecular and cellular biology of ion channels, their localisation and their physio-pathological roles, was presented by a selected number of academic researchers. The status of development, by pharmaceutical companies, of drugs targeting specific ion channel subtypes (e.g., AMPA receptors, nicotinic receptors, GABA(A) receptors, K(+) channels, transient receptor potential channels) and with different modalities (agonists versus potentiators) was reviewed. More comparative data on the emerging ion channel screening technologies are now available and were shared in a number of presentations. Finally, cardiac ion channel liability, in the context of drug discovery and development, was thoroughly discussed.