Drug Discovery News and Research

RSS

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.

New live cell models lay the groundwork for studies into mitochondrial diseases

The mitochondrion has garnered quite the reputation for its role as the "powerhouse of the cell." These tiny, but mighty organelles play various life-sustaining roles, from powering our own cells and organs to fueling chemical and biological processes.

15 Jul 2021

UH researchers report new gut–liver drug recycling process

A team of University of Houston pharmaceutical researchers is reporting a newly recognized process of drug metabolism in the intestines - followed by recycling through the liver - that could have important implications for developing treatments for intestinal diseases and for taking multiple medications at the same time.

14 Jul 2021

Curia to Acquire US-based LakePharma, Expanding End-to-End R&D Capabilities and Scale for Biologics

Curia today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire LakePharma Inc.

From Curia 14 Jul 2021

New approach that uses machine learning could transform drug development

Writing in the July 12, 2021 online issue of Nature Communications, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine describe a new approach that uses machine learning to hunt for disease targets and then predicts whether a drug is likely to receive FDA approval.

12 Jul 2021

Untargeted metabolomics profiling can improve diagnosis of metabolic disorders in newborns

A team led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine found that a screening method known as untargeted metabolomics profiling can improve the diagnostic rate for inborn errors of metabolism, a group of rare genetic conditions, by about seven-fold when compared to the traditional metabolic screening approach.

12 Jul 2021

Repurposed drugs for COVID-19 treatment identified through virtual screening and cell-based assays

A joint research group from KAIST and Institut Pasteur Korea has identified repurposed drugs for COVID-19 treatment through virtual screening and cell-based assays.

8 Jul 2021

Novel technique allows to individually select droplets for contact in droplet-array sandwiching

Miniaturization is rapidly reshaping the field of biochemistry, with emerging technologies such as microfluidics and "lab-on-a-chip" devices taking the world by storm. Chemical reactions that were normally conducted in flasks and tubes can now be carried out within tiny water droplets not larger than a few millionths of a liter.

8 Jul 2021

Using AI to find new pharmaceutical applications for natural products

Artificial intelligence (AI) is able to recognize the biological activity of natural products in a targeted manner, as researchers at ETH Zurich have demonstrated.

7 Jul 2021

Plant compounds inhibit Mpro of SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV-229E in vitro

A group of researchers recently discussed their findings that a group of plant flavonols and dihydroflavonols exhibit antiviral efficacy against both SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV-229E.

6 Jul 2021

Laboratory manufactured protein spikes mimic key features of SARS-CoV-2 virus

A new international study has found that the key properties of the spikes of SARS-CoV-2 virus which causes COVID-19 are consistent with those of several laboratory-developed protein spikes, designed to mimic the infectious virus.

6 Jul 2021

Antibiotic clofoctol shows potential against SARS-CoV-2

In a recent study, a group of French researchers aimed to reduce the regulatory preclinical development steps that potential candidates are normally subjected to.

5 Jul 2021

SwabSeq platform offers a potential solution for massive COVID-19 testing

In an article appearing in Nature Biomedical Engineering, a team of scientists from the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and UCLA School of Engineering report real-world results on SwabSeq, a high-throughput testing platform that uses sequencing to test thousands of samples at a time to detect COVID-19.

2 Jul 2021

FairJourney Biologics introduces “THE ANTIBODY SERIES” conference

FairJourney Biologics S.A. (FJB), leaders in the discovery and optimization of antibodies, today announced the launch of the “THE ANTIBODY SERIES” - a 1-day conference bringing together top experts in the antibody field to explore the latest innovation within antibody drug discovery.

From FairJourney Biologics S.A. 1 Jul 2021

New article focuses on drug discovery targeting SARS-CoV-2

The July edition of SLAS Discovery is a Special Edition featuring the cover article, "Development of a High-Throughput Screening Assay to Identify Inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 Guanine-N7-Methyltransferase Using RapidFire Mass Spectrometry" by Lesley-Anne Pearson, Charlotte J. Green, Ph.D., De Lin, Ph.D., Alain-Pierre Petit, Ph.D., David W. Gray, Ph.D., Victoria H. Cowling, Ph.D., and Euan A. F. Fordyce, Ph.D., (Drug Discovery Unit, School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK).

1 Jul 2021

Breakthrough method for tracking mRNA molecules with fluorescence

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have succeeded in developing a method to label mRNA molecules, and thereby follow, in real time, their path through cells, using a microscope - without affecting their properties or subsequent activity.

30 Jun 2021

Optibrium Publishes Major Peer-Reviewed Study on AI Applications to Global Pharma Data

Optibrium Limited today announced the publication of a peer-reviewed study in Applied AI Letters, “Deep Imputation on Large-Scale Drug Discovery Data”.

From Optibrium Ltd. 29 Jun 2021

New methodology predicts biological activity of any molecule

The Structural Bioinformatics and Network Biology laboratory, led by ICREA Researcher Dr. Patrick Aloy, has completed the bioactivity information for a million molecules using deep machine-learning computational models. It has also disclosed a tool to predict the biological activity of any molecule, even when no experimental data are available.

29 Jun 2021

Study suggests vitamin B12 as a SARS-CoV-2 antiviral

Researchers in the UK and Spain have used a novel drug screening approach to identify compounds that could serve as effective antivirals against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

28 Jun 2021

New molecule extracted from the leaves of chestnut tree neutralizes staph bacteria

Scientists isolated a molecule, extracted from the leaves of the European chestnut tree, with the power to neutralize dangerous, drug-resistant staph bacteria. Frontiers in Pharmacology published the finding, led by scientists at Emory University.