Investigation of parameters highlighting drug induced small changes of the T-wave´s morphology for drug safety studies

In guideline E14, the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requests for clinical studies to investigate the prolongation of the heart rate corrected QT-interval (QTc) of the ECG. As drug induced QT-prolongation can be caused by changes in the repolarisation of the ventricles, it is so far a thorough ECG biomarker of risk for ventricular tachyarrhythmias and Torsade de Pointes (TdP). Ventricular repolarisation changes not only change QT but also influence the morphology of the T-wave. In a (400 mg single dose) Moxifloxacin positive control study both, QTc and several descriptors describing the T-wave morphology have been measured. Moxifloxacin is changing two shape dependent descriptors significantly (P≤0.05) about 3 to 4 hours after a 400 mg oral single dose of Moxifloxacin.