title: Improvement of cardiac efficacy and safety models in drug discovery by the use of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The pharmaceutical industry suffers from high attrition rates during late phases of drug development. Improved models for early evaluation of drug efficacy and safety are needed to address this problem. Recent developments have illustrated that human stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes are attractive for using as a model system for different cardiac diseases and as a model for screening, safety pharmacology and toxicology.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  In this review, we discuss contemporary drug discovery models and their characteristics for cardiac efficacy testing and safety assessment. Additionally, we evaluate various sources of stem cells and how these cells could potentially improve early screening and safety models.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that human stem cells offer a source of physiologically relevant cells that show great potential as a future tool in cardiac drug discovery. However, some technical challenges related to cell differentiation and production and also to validation of improved platforms remain and must be overcome before successful application can become a reality.
authors.affiliation: University Medical Center Utrecht, Division Heart & Lungs, Department of Medical Physiology, Yalelaan 50, 3584 CM Utrecht, The Netherlands +46 31 7065571 ; +46 31 7763766 ; m.k.b.jonsson@umcutrecht.nl.
authors.forename: Malin Kb
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Jonsson
authors.forename: Toon Ab
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: van Veen
authors.forename: Marie-Jose
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Goumans
authors.forename: Marc A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Vos
authors.forename: Göran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Duker
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sartipy