HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Cardiac safety technical committee: the mission of the cardiac safety technical committee is to improve public health by reducing unanticipated cardiovascular-related adverse effects from drugs or chemicals and develop innovative approaches to support early detection and prediction as well as improved understanding of cardiovascular toxicology and pathobiology. In 2024, the committee continued to sponsor projects addressing cardiovascular safety testing, published six scientific manuscripts in a peer-reviewed technical journal based on the committee's research and presented 4 times at public scientific meetings. An additional 4 manuscripts are in progress. Key projects included continuation of a new study to explore drug-induced blood pressure changes, a study to identify biomarkers of bleeding disorders, project planning to explore cardiac function and sodium channel block, and completion of data analysis for a new study to explore use of cardiac stem cells to predict toxicity. The committee also completed their support of one grant awarded through fda and nih in support of a strategic framework to enhance the use of mechanistic studies to predict potential cardiac risks for pharmaceuticals. A second grant through fda and nih continued work assessing variability and reproducibility in assays to test for drug induced cardiac toxicity. The grant includes subcontracts at several laboratories in the us and europe.