Drug-induced torsade de pointes: the perspectives of industry

The appearance of QT prolongation and torsades de pointes during drug treatment is often unpredictable and has been recognised as a potential risk during treatment with antiarrhythmic as well as non-antiarrhythmic drugs. As a consequence, both regulatory bodies and the pharmaceutical industry are presently addressing the importance of early preclinical testing of novel compounds to identify QT prolongation and reassure safe clinical usage of new chemical entities. This paper briefly discusses some of the suggested in vitro methodologies and the predictive value of preclinical in vivo studies for assessment of repolarization delay of novel chemical entities.