Xention receives

Xention, a UK biopharmaceutical company that specialises in the discovery and development of ion-channel-modulating drugs, will receive up to £3m over three years under the Wellcome Trust's Seeding Drug Discovery initiative for research on new drugs to treat atrial fibrillation, which causes an irregular heartbeat and raises the risk of stroke.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia and is more common in older people. It is associated with a significantly increased risk of stroke, which is the second biggest cause of death in the UK after heart attacks.

Although a number of drugs and therapeutic approaches are used for the management of AF, each has significant side effects and few are suitable for preventing the disease.

Using the Trust's funding, Cambridge-based Xention will develop new drugs with the potential to selectively block IKACh, a potassium ion channel found only in the atria of the heart. Inhibiting IKACh is expected to maintain a regular heartbeat in people who have experienced atrial fibrillation.

'We are very pleased to have received this prestigious award," commented Tim Brears, Xention's chief executive. "We look forward to working with the Wellcome Trust over the coming years to develop new therapeutics in this area of substantial unmet medical need'