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.

VTT scientists discover unknown Cent-1 molecule that kills cancer cells

A team of research scientists from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the University of Turku and the University of Eastern Finland has discovered a previously unknown Cent-1 molecule that kills cancer cells.

22 May 2014

New cancer drug candidates can be identified faster by using computer-assisted screening

21 May 2014

Isis Pharmaceuticals starts Phase 1 clinical study of ISIS-PKKRx to treat patients with HAE

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISIS) announced today that it initiated a Phase 1 clinical study of ISIS-PKKRx. ISIS-PKKRx is an antisense drug in development to treat patients with hereditary angioedemia (HAE).

21 May 2014

The future of high throughput screening: an interview with Mark Wigglesworth, Director High Throughput Screening, AstraZeneca

Quoting Mike Snowden (VP & Head of Discovery Sciences, AstraZeneca), “it’s where biology meets chemistry”. It’s where for the first time a target protein can be probed for novel molecules that modulate its function, of course we want to do this to prove a hypothesis that these proteins are drug targets with the potential to deliver innovative medicines.

20 May 2014

Researcher identify four new microRNAs involved in regulation of BDNF levels

Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) regulates many processes including memory and learning in our daily tasks.

19 May 2014

New collaboration between Australian and European scientists to boost therapeutic drug research

Griffith University's Eskitis Institute will be the gateway for European scientists to access potential building blocks for new drugs and other products sourced from compounds created by Australian chemistry researchers.

16 May 2014

Researchers develop potential route to new therapies for treatment of Parkinson's disease

A biologist and a psychologist at the University of York have joined forces with a drug discovery group at Lundbeck in Denmark to develop a potential route to new therapies for the treatment of Parkinson's Disease (PD).

16 May 2014

Isis Pharmaceuticals receives $3 million milestone payment from GSK

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has earned a $3.0 million milestone payment from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) related to the initiation of a natural history study, which will support the advancement of one of the alliance programs.

15 May 2014

Introduction to Solid State ChIP technology

A new instructional video from Porvair Sciences explains exactly how to conduct a ChIP assay for epigenetic research starting from a confluent monolayer of human cells.

From Chromatrap® - Porvair Sciences Ltd 14 May 2014

Protein Data Bank now contains over 100,000 structures

Spanning the globe from the US, UK, and Japan, the Worldwide Protein Data Bank (wwPDB) organization announces that the Protein Data Bank archive now contains more than 100,000 entries.

14 May 2014

Melbourne researchers find link between necroptosis and inflammatory disease

A team of Melbourne researchers has shown a recently discovered type of cell death called necroptosis could be the underlying cause of inflammatory disease.

13 May 2014

Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation gift $4 million to support UCLA research

Two new gifts from The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation to UCLA totaling $4 million will fund research in stem cell science and digestive diseases and support the recruitment of key faculty at two renowned research centers.

9 May 2014

Cellectricon, Neusentis to host webinar on phenotypic screening approaches in pain research

Cellectricon, a leading provider of advanced cell-based screening technologies and services, will co-host a webinar with Neusentis, describing the use of native cells to develop an assay with improved physiological relevance over traditional approaches in pain drug discovery research.

From Cellectricon 8 May 2014

Leica and Affymetrix launch fully automated RNA in situ hybridization assays

Affymetrix, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFFX) and Leica Biosystems announce the launch of Affymetrix' fully automated RNA in situ hybridization assays ViewRNATM eZ Assays on the Leica BOND RX staining platform.

8 May 2014

Naurex's two lead antidepressant programs achieve major milestones

Naurex Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company leveraging its unique platform to develop novel drugs for diseases of the central nervous system (CNS), today announced that its two lead antidepressant programs achieved major milestones.

6 May 2014

Six-way jet-in-air sorter from Beckman Coulter Life Sciences delivers simultaneous high-speed cell sorting and sub-micron particle detection

MoFlo Astrios EQ, a six-way jet-in-air sorter from Beckman Coulter Life Sciences, delivers patent pending enhanced dual forward scatter (eFSC) technology for simultaneous sorting and detection of particles from 200 nm to 30 µm in diameter. The instrument sets a new standard for flow cytometry core facilities, delivering high-speed cell sorting and micro-particle detection in a single package. Featuring detailed and precise forward scatter resolution, beadless drop sample handling and increased biosafety, Astrios EQ meets a range of analysis needs.

2 May 2014

Bristol-Myers Squibb completes acquisition of iPierian

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and iPierian, Inc. announced today that Bristol-Myers Squibb has acquired iPierian, a privately held biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of new treatments for Tauopathies, a class of neurodegenerative diseases associated with the pathological aggregation of Tau protein in the human brain.

29 Apr 2014

Positive results from pivotal clinical trial of Trophos’ olesoxime in SMA patients to be presented at AAN 2014

Trophos and AFM-Telethon today announce that data from the pivotal clinical trial of Trophos’ lead product candidate olesoxime in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) will be presented during the 66th American Academy of Neurology annual meeting to be held in Philadelphia, PA, USA, from April 26 to May 3 2014.

29 Apr 2014

Stem cell production becomes much easier with polymer-based 3D culture system

Mass producing human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), including embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells, for regenerative medicine and drug discovery may have gotten much easier, thanks to a polymer-based 3D culture system developed by Japanese researchers.

26 Apr 2014

NIH award reflects urgency of overcoming infections that resist drug treatment

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health has selected infectious disease expert David Perlin, executive director of the Public Health Research Institute at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, to lead a major research effort aimed at developing new forms of antibiotics to regain the upper hand over deadly bacteria that have become resistant to current treatments.