Drug Discovery News and Research

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The drug discovery process begins with recognizing a disease or clinical condition in which there is a lack of adequate medical treatment. Once a potential drug has been identified, pre-clinical research can begin. This process includes several stages; the first of which involves identifying and validating the prospective drug’s target through assay development, high throughput screening, hit identification and finally, lead optimization. Once the pre-clinical process is complete, the newly synthesized drug candidate is selected for future clinical development.

Microarray technology company Arrayjet announces expansion plans

Arrayjet, the Midlothian-based microarray technology company has increased its staffing levels as it continues to expand and grow its international sales development pipeline, as many of the world’s leading university research and biomedical research institutes look to increase accuracy, speed and throughput of its drug discovery sampling using Arrayjet’s range of instrumentation.

3 May 2017

TACC's supercomputers assist in discovery of new, better chemotherapy drugs

Surgery and radiation remove, kill, or damage cancer cells in a certain area. But chemotherapy -- which uses medicines or drugs to treat cancer -- can work throughout the whole body, killing cancer cells that have spread far from the original tumor.

2 May 2017

Unstable chromosomes in lung tumors increase risk of cancer relapse, study reveals

The New England Journal of Medicine and Nature has published the first findings from the Cancer Research UK-funded Tracking Cancer Evolution through Treatment (Rx), TRACERx, lung cancer study, which reveals the increase in the risk of cancer relapse when lung tumors have unstable chromosomes.

27 Apr 2017

AI key to driving precision medicine in cancer?

It is worth noting that in the U.S. and in many countries, digital pathology is still at a very early stage, compared to many other fields that were digitized 15 or 20 years ago such as radiology. There have been some barriers to the adoption of digital pathology such as regulatory challenges that are only just now being overcome. Recently, the FDA approved the use of whole slide imaging software for primary diagnostics.

27 Apr 2017

KU Leuven researchers grow three-dimensional cultures of the uterus' inner lining in a dish

Scientists at KU Leuven, Belgium, have succeeded in growing three-dimensional cultures of the endometrium, the uterus' inner lining, in a dish.

25 Apr 2017

UC San Diego Amazonian Center to receive NIH funding for malaria research

The Amazonian Center of Excellence for Malaria Research, headed by Joseph Vinetz, MD, professor of medicine and tropical disease specialist at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, will receive up to approximately $8.3 million over seven years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.

21 Apr 2017

Cancer Research UK, CRT Pioneer Fund, and NCI join forces to tackle ‘undruggable’ RAS mutations

Cancer Research UK and the Cancer Research Technology Pioneer Fund have committed £2.5 million in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute in the US to tackle one of the toughest challenges in cancer that has thwarted researchers for more than 30 years.

21 Apr 2017

Researchers find new way to prevent graft-versus-host disease after stem cell transplants

Through experimental work, an international team of researchers led by City of Hope's Defu Zeng, professor of diabetes immunology and hematopoietic cell transplantation, believe they may have found a way to prevent graft-versus-host disease after stem cell transplants while retaining the transplants' positive effects on fighting leukemia and lymphoma.

18 Apr 2017

Atomic resolution structure of key molecule may contribute to drug discovery for devastating conditions

Culminating a nearly 10 year effort, researchers have determined the atomic resolution structure of a key molecule that translates signals from a cell's local environment into a language that the cell can understand and use.

18 Apr 2017

Rutgers scientists reveal structure of TB drug target and identify new inhibitors

Rutgers University scientists have determined the three-dimensional structure of the target of the first-line anti-tuberculosis drug rifampin. They have also discovered a new class of potential anti-tuberculosis drugs that kill rifampin-resistant and multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis bacteria.

7 Apr 2017

Salk scientists discover chemical cocktail that enables stem cells to generate tissues

When scientists talk about laboratory stem cells being totipotent or pluripotent, they mean that the cells have the potential, like an embryo, to develop into any type of tissue in the body.

6 Apr 2017

New finding on key protein opens door to potential therapies for chronic illnesses

Scientists have determined unexpected characteristics of a key protein linked to blood pressure control and to nerve growth, pain control and heart tissue regeneration. The findings, published April 5 online in the journal Nature, opens doors to potential new therapies to control cardiovascular disease and pain.

6 Apr 2017

X-ray study sheds new light on promising drug target

Researchers hope to design a new generation of drugs against an array of deadly diseases. The task, however, is costly, arduous and often ineffective. One of the key challenges is understanding a particular class of proteins adorning cell surfaces, which are the targets of the majority of pharmaceutical drugs.

5 Apr 2017

Insilico Medicine announces launch of intelligently-formulated nutraceuticals in Europe

Insilico Medicine, Inc, a big data analytics company applying latest advances in deep learning to drug discovery, biomarker development, and aging research today announced that the line of nutraceuticals developed in collaboration with Life Extension will be available across Europe.

5 Apr 2017

Essen BioScience Launches the IncuCyte® S3 Live-Cell Analysis Platform

Essen BioScience, a pioneer and leader in the field of cell-based assays and instrumentation used for drug discovery and basic research, has launched the IncuCyte® S3 live-cell analysis platform for real-time, automated measurements of cell health, proliferation, movement and function directly inside a standard incubator.

From Sartorius 3 Apr 2017

Novel highly potent SARDs may offer treatment option for advanced prostate cancer, study reports

Novel molecules called selective androgen receptor degraders (SARDs) may offer the next generation of treatment options for advanced prostate cancer, a new industry-sponsored study reports. The results of this research will be presented Saturday, April 1, at ENDO 2017, the 99th annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, in Orlando, Fla.

2 Apr 2017

ISS crew members grow crystals for drug development

Crew members aboard the International Space Station will begin conducting research this week to improve the way we grow crystals on Earth. The information gained from the experiments could speed up the process for drug development, benefiting humans around the world.

31 Mar 2017

GHIT Fund invests in phase 3 clinical trial for pediatric formulation of ‘snail fever’ drug

The Global Health Innovative Technology Fund, a unique Japanese public-private partnership formed to battle infectious diseases around the globe, today announced 11 new investments totaling US$23 million that could help deliver a range of new innovative therapies for a host of debilitating conditions.

31 Mar 2017

University of Arkansas chemist receives $1.5 million NIH award to improve computer-aided drug design

A new $1.5 million award from the National Institutes of Health will allow a University of Arkansas chemist to develop mathematical models to improve the reliability and efficiency of computer-aided drug design. The research could reduce the cost of drug discovery and lead to improvements in public health.

30 Mar 2017

Scientists developing new method for drug discovery using simple models and small data sets

Drug discovery is in essence the designing of compounds to interact with disease-related proteins. And in many recent development efforts, this process increasingly relies on "big data" and complex "deep learning", requiring the harnessing of supercomputing power.

29 Mar 2017