Drug Discovery TodayThis is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader, such as GoogleReader, or to display this data on your own website or blog. Subscribe to this data using MyMedWorm.Subscribe to this data using GoogleReader.Subscribe to this data using Bloglines.Subscribe to this data using MyYahoo.

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Progress towards personalized medicine.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Personalized medicine is the tailoring of therapies to defined subsets of patients based on their increased likelihood to respond to therapy or their reduced risk of adverse events. The advent of improved genomic tools has greatly hastened our understanding of the molecular pathology of diseases, enabling us to redefine disease at the molecular level. The development of molecularly targeted therapies, coupled with improved diagnostic criteria, holds the promise of delivering a new paradigm in drug development. But how far have we come, and how close is personalized medicine to delivering on its promise?In September 200...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - November 12, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Bates S Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Epigenetic opportunities and challenges in cancer.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19897050 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Drug Discovery Today)
Source: Drug Discovery Today - November 5, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Best JD, Carey N Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Mitochondrial pharmacogenomics: barcode for antibiotic therapy.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Ribosomal RNA (rRNA)-targeting drugs inhibit protein synthesis and represent effective antibiotics for the treatment of infectious diseases. Given the bacterial origins of mitochondria, the molecular and structural components of the protein expression system are much alike. Moreover, the mutational rate of mitochondrial rRNAs is higher than that of nuclear rRNAs, and some of these mutations might simulate the microorganism's rRNA structure. Consequently, individuals become more susceptible to antibiotics, the mitochondrial function is affected and toxic effects appear. Systems are available to analyze the interaction b...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - October 30, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Pacheu-Grau D, Gómez-Durán A, López-Pérez MJ, Montoya J, Ruiz-Pesini E Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Synthetic therapeutic peptides: science and market.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The decreasing number of approved drugs produced by the pharmaceutical industry, which has been accompanied by increasing expenses for R&D, demands alternative approaches to increase pharmaceutical R&D productivity. This situation has contributed to a revival of interest in peptides as potential drug candidates. New synthetic strategies for limiting metabolism and alternative routes of administration have emerged in recent years and resulted in a large number of peptide-based drugs that are now being marketed. This review reports on the unexpected and significant[E1] number of peptides that are currently availa...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - October 29, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Vlieghe P, Lisowski V, Martinez J, Khrestchatisky M Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Cyclotides as Templates in Drug Design.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article discusses literature on pharmaceutically relevant activities of cyclotides, including anti-HIV, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities, and evaluates their potential therapeutic applications. Their applications as templates for the design of anti-angiogenic agents for the treatment of cancer, and as anti-infective agents, are also described. Toxic effects of cyclotides, whose native function is as insecticidal agents, can be removed by simple mutagenesis, thus rationalizing the apparent conundrum of proposing insecticidal agents as leads for human therapeutics. PMID: 19878736 [PubMed - as supplied by publi...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - October 27, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Henriques ST, Craik DJ Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

The quest for biomarkers in tuberculosis.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No new vaccine has been licensed for tuberculosis (TB) for more than three-quarters of a century, and no new drug has been licensed for half a century. One major drawback has been the attrition caused by the lack of a reliable biological indicator (biomarker) to predict toxicity and efficacy early in the development pipeline. This review portrays the landscape of biomarker discovery for TB in the context of drug and vaccine development using emerging global biomics platforms. The time is ripe to move from single markers for correlates of protection to a biosignature comprising a well-defined set of robust indicators in...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - October 22, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Parida S, Kaufmann SH Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Non-clinical development of biopharmaceuticals.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The non-clinical development plan (NDP) for biotechnology-derived pharmaceuticals (biologics) as addressed in this review comprises aspects of non-clinical drug safety (toxicology and safety pharmacology), non-clinical pharmacokinetics (PKs) and non-clinical/clinical bioanalytics. A variety of bioanalytical methods are needed to describe PK behavior and to monitor immune response in laboratory animals and humans. The NDP will often differ from established programs for small molecules to account for target differences, a lack of or limited species cross-reactivity, and/or the limited applicability of long-term studies, ...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - October 20, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Baumann A Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Clinical prediction rules: new opportunities for pharma.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article compares CPRs to other medical information tools, giving solvent examples of their clinical application and potential to increase efficacy and efficiency, as well as their utility in drug development. The primary focus is on the potential of CPRs to define the most effective level of generalization, predictably and reproducibly identifying homogenous groups of subjects (based on outcome) in heterogeneous and undifferentiated trial populations. This potential can be met if CPR construction integrates three elements: the identification of variables both within and outside the disorder that affect outcome and the...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - October 20, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Herscu P, Hoover TA, Randolph AG Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Surrogate approaches in development of monoclonal antibodies.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
When cross-reactivity of a lead antibody across species is limited, antibody development programs require the generation of surrogate molecules or surrogate animal models necessary for the conduct of preclinical pharmacology and safety studies. When surrogate approaches are employed, the complexities and challenges for translation of preclinical safety and efficacy results to the clinic are undoubtedly enhanced. Because there are no currently established criteria or regulatory guidance regarding the application of surrogate approaches, a science-based strategy for translation of preclinical information to the clinic is...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - October 20, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Bornstein GG, Klakamp SL, Andrews L, Boyle WJ, Tabrizi M Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Visualizing the drug target landscape.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Generating new therapeutic hypotheses for human disease requires the analysis and interpretation of many different experimental datasets. Assembling a holistic picture of the current landscape of drug discovery activity remains a challenge, however, because of the lack of integration between biological, chemical and clinical resources. Although tools designed to tackle the interpretation of individual data types are abundant, systems that bring multiple elements together to directly enable decision making within drug discovery programmes are rare. In this article, we review the path that led to the development of a kno...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - October 15, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Campbell SJ, Gaulton A, Marshall J, Bichko D, Martin S, Brouwer C, Harland L Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

The Rise of Micropharma.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The drug discovery pipelines of the major pharmaceutical companies have become shockingly depleted, foreshadowing a potential crisis in the ability of Big Pharma to meet the pharmaceutical demands created by the ever-changing spectrum of human disease. However, from this major crisis is emerging a major opportunity, namely micropharma - academia-originated biotech start-up companies that are efficient, innovative, product-focused, and small. In this Feature, we discuss a "new ecosystem" for drug development, with high-risk innovation in micropharma leading to Big Pharma clinical trials; we also identify the "five golde...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - October 14, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Barden CJ, Weaver DF Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

The TNF Superfamily in 2009: New pathways, new indications, and new drugs.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This report summarizes recent developments in this highly druggable superfamily, including highlights of the latest international TNF conference. Teaser sentence: TNF has become the most successful target of protein drugs, and numerous new biologics in development modulate other TNF superfamily targets, promising to expand on this clinical and commercial success. PMID: 19837186 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Drug Discovery Today)
Source: Drug Discovery Today - October 14, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Tansey MG, Szymkowski DE Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

The shrinking of the knowledge base - what is the impact of this on the speed and security of drug development?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19837187 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Drug Discovery Today)
Source: Drug Discovery Today - October 14, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Branthwaite P Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Computational toxicology - a tool for early safety evaluation.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Although inappropriate pharmacokinetic properties were a major cause of attrition in the nineties, safety issues are recognized as today's single largest cause of drug candidate failure. It is expected that the right balance of in vivo, in vitro and computational toxicology predictions applied as early as possible in the discovery process will help to reduce the number of safety issues. This review focuses on recent developments in computational toxicology. Direct modeling of toxic endpoints has been deceiving and hampered the wide acceptance of computer predictions. The current trend is to make simpler predictions, cl...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - October 12, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Merlot C Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Competitive Collaboration in the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Industry.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19835979 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Drug Discovery Today)
Source: Drug Discovery Today - October 12, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Bingham A, Ekins S Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

MicroRNAs: novel therapeutic targets in neurodegenerative diseases.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The prevalence of neurodegenerative disorders is rising steadily as human life expectancy increases. However, limited knowledge of the molecular basis of disease pathogenesis is a major hurdle in identification of drug targets and development of therapeutic strategies for these largely incurable disorders. Recently, differential expression of endogenous regulatory small RNAs, known as 'microRNAs' (miRNAs), in patients of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and models of ataxia suggest that they might have key regulatory roles in neurodegeneration. miRNAs that can target known mediators of neurodegeneration offer p...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - October 8, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Roshan R, Ghosh T, Scaria V, Pillai B Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Translation of rare disease research into orphan drug development: disease matters.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
More than 25 years of orphan drug regulations have yielded a considerable number of new treatments for patients with rare diseases. Here, we show that successful translation of rare disease research into an orphan drug discovery and development program is dependent on the disease class, its prevalence and the disease-specific scientific output. Our findings indicate that current orphan drug legislation alone is not sufficient to stimulate orphan drug development for diseases with a very low prevalence. Consequently, additional incentives should focus on stimulating the specific needs of rare disease research at disease...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - October 5, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Heemstra HE, Weely SV, Büller HA, Leufkens HG, de Vrueh RL Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Drug Discovery Dilemma and Cura Quartet Collaboration.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Many parties contribute to discovery of new drugs-academic researchers, industry scientists, government agencies, and disease foundation helping to corral the resources necessary to sustain research efforts-but it has never been more apparent until now that these parties must work together to accomplish the shared goal of improving health. At a recent conference at the Georgetown University Medical Center, a group of prominent scientists from the academic, industry, government and disease advocacy communities came together to discuss new paths forward for stronger inter-institutional collaboration to establish a framew...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - October 4, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Shah S, Federoff HJ Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Anticancer drug discovery in the future: an evolutionary perspective.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Identification of agents that are pharmacologically active against human cancer has depended largely on screening natural products and their analogs. Many anticancer drugs have been discovered fortuitously through random investigation of organisms; indeed, serendipity remains important in anticancer drug discovery. Although it is broadly accepted that cancers comprise an evolutionary microcosm, this idea has not been advanced to understand and control carcinogenic progression. Here, we address anticancer drug discovery from an evolutionary perspective and present a series of case studies that demonstrate that the rate ...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - September 29, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Ma X, Wang Z, Zhao X Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

HTS and hit finding in academia - from chemical genomics to drug discovery.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The liaison between academia and the pharmaceutical industry was originally served primarily through the scientific literature and limited, specific industry-academia partnerships. Some of these partnerships have resulted in drugs on the market, such as Vorinostat (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre and Merck) and Tenofovir (University of Leuven; Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Czech Republic; and GlaxoSmithKline), but the timescales from concept to clinic have, in most cases, taken many decades. We now find ourselves in a world in which the edges between these sectors are more blurred and the esta...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - September 26, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Frearson JA, Collie IT Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Current applications and future potential for bioinorganic chemistry in the development of anticancer drugs.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This review illustrates significant recent progress in the field of medicinal bioinorganic chemistry with many new approaches to the design of innovative metal-based anticancer drugs emerging. Current research addressing the problems associated with platinum drugs has focused on other metal-based therapeutics that have different modes of action and on prodrug and targeting strategies in an effort to diminish the side-effects of cisplatin chemotherapy. PMID: 19782150 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Drug Discovery Today)
Source: Drug Discovery Today - September 22, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: van Rijt SH, Sadler PJ Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Open Innovation: share or die...Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19778629 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Drug Discovery Today)
Source: Drug Discovery Today - September 20, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Talaga P Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Biologics: A new approach needed?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19778630 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Drug Discovery Today)
Source: Drug Discovery Today - September 20, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Foster KA Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

New Agents for the Treatment of Leukemia: Discovery of DMAPT (LC-1).Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19733683 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Drug Discovery Today)
Source: Drug Discovery Today - September 2, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Peese K Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

A New Approach for Treating Pancreatic Cancer.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19733684 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Drug Discovery Today)
Source: Drug Discovery Today - September 2, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Walker MA Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

HCV Protease Inhibitor Telaprevir: Phase II Clinical Results.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19733685 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Drug Discovery Today)
Source: Drug Discovery Today - September 2, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Peese K Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Computational analysis of membrane proteins: the largest class of drug targets.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Given the key roles of integral membrane proteins as transporters and channels, it is necessary to understand their structures and, hence, mechanisms and regulation at the molecular level. Membrane proteins represent approximately 30% of currently sequenced genomes. Paradoxically, however, only approximately 2% of crystal structures deposited in the protein data bank are of membrane proteins, and very few of these are at high resolution (better than 2 A). The great disparity between our understanding of soluble proteins and our understanding of membrane proteins is due to the practical problems of working with membrane...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - September 1, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Arinaminpathy Y, Khurana E, Engelman DM, Gerstein MB Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

The Importance of Aryl C-Cl-pi Interaction in Ligand-Protein Binding.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19733257 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Drug Discovery Today)
Source: Drug Discovery Today - September 1, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Yeung KS Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Dihydropyridines: evaluation of their current and future pharmacological applications.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The 1,4-dihydropyridines (DHPs), a class of drugs, possess a wide variety of biological and pharmacological actions, have represented one of the most significant groups of calcium-channel-modulating agents and have experienced widespread use in the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that DHPs could prove to be highly important as multidrug-resistance-reversing agents in cancer chemotherapy. Recent reports suggest that this class also has other significant activities, particularly as antimycobacterial and anticonvulsant agents. Finally, it might be possible for the DHP motif to serve...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - August 30, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Edraki N, Mehdipour AR, Khoshneviszadeh M, Miri R Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

The impact of aromatic ring count on compound developability - are too many aromatic rings a liability in drug design?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The impact of aromatic ring count (the number of aromatic and heteroaromatic rings) in molecules has been analyzed against various developability parameters - aqueous solubility, lipophilicity, serum albumin binding, CyP450 inhibition and hERG inhibition. Based on this analysis, it was concluded that the fewer aromatic rings contained in an oral drug candidate, the more developable that candidate is likely to be; in addition, more than three aromatic rings in a molecule correlates with poorer compound developability and, thus, an increased risk of attrition in development. Data are also presented that demonstrate that ...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - August 30, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Ritchie TJ, Macdonald SJ Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Natural inspirations for antioxidant drug discovery.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19716934 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Drug Discovery Today)
Source: Drug Discovery Today - August 26, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Li XJ, Gao N, Zhang HY Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Pain and beyond: fatty acid amides and fatty acid amide hydrolase inhibitors in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) is responsible for the hydrolysis of several important endogenous fatty acid amides (FAAs), including anandamide, oleoylethanolamide and palmitoylethanolamide. Because specific FAAs interact with cannabinoid and vanilloid receptors, they are often referred to as 'endocannabinoids' or 'endovanilloids'. Initial interest in this area, therefore, has focused on developing FAAH inhibitors to augment the actions of FAAs and reduce pain. However, recent literature has shown that these FAAs - through interactions with unique receptors (extracellular and intracellular) - can induce a diverse ar...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - August 25, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Pillarisetti S, Alexander CW, Khanna I Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

NMR methods in fragment screening: theory and a comparison with other biophysical techniques.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The NMR methods applied to fragment screening are analyzed on a theoretical basis and a comparison of these methodologies with two other very popular biophysical techniques is presented. Nuclear magnetic resonance, surface plasmon resonance and fluorescence spectroscopy (particularly fluorescence anisotropy and fluorescence lifetime) are techniques often applied to fragment screening. These methodologies are analyzed on the basis of their performance, strengths, limitations and pitfalls. NMR-based screening, despite its low intrinsic sensitivity, offers the largest dynamic range and is capable of capturing very weak in...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - August 25, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Dalvit C Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Drug Discovery: aiming for the moon? Forty years ago today men landed on, and walked on, the moon.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19715770 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Drug Discovery Today)
Source: Drug Discovery Today - August 24, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Murcko M Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

From osteoarthritis treatments to future regenerative therapies for cartilage.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is associated with cartilage degeneration and an accompanying inflammatory syndrome of the synovium in addition to alteration of the subchondral bone. The molecular and cellular events involved in OA have only partially been elucidated. This review provides a global view of the physiopathology of OA, as well as non-pharmacological and pharmacological treatments for the disorder. An update on surgical treatments and their indications is given with an orientation towards the management of OA and cartilage repair by cell-based regenerative therapies. These promising biological technologies will, potent...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - July 30, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Johann C, Claire V, Christophe M, Marianne PV, Yves M, Pierre W, Gaël G, Jérôme G Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Groundbreaking gold (III) anticancer agents.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19647802 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Drug Discovery Today)
Source: Drug Discovery Today - July 29, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Aldinucci D, Ronconi L, Fregona D Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Novel formulation approaches for optimizing delivery of anticancer drugs based on P-glycoprotein modulation.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article focuses on such excipients, various co-development strategies for the formulation of cytotoxic drugs with this multi drug resistance (MDR) reversing additives. PMID: 19647803 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Drug Discovery Today)
Source: Drug Discovery Today - July 29, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Bansal T, Akhtar N, Iqbal Z, Ahmed FJ, Jaggi M, Khar RK, Talegaonkar S Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Will biomedical innovation change the future of healthcare?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Healthcare costs in all industrial nations have increased and payors are starting to look at new ways to contain costs and at new funding models. The business model of pharmaceutical companies is also undergoing rapid changes - potentially disruptive new modalities, such as RNAi, therapeutic vaccines, and cell therapy are emerging, R&D costs have increased year on year, pressures on drug pricing and the efficacy and safety of medicines are mounting. Change is therefore inevitable and already ongoing in healthcare systems and pharmaceutical companies alike. This paper presents several major forces which could drive ...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - July 28, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Schmid EF, Ashkenazy R, Merson J, Smith DA Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Brain drug targeting: A computational approach for overcoming blood brain barrier.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The treatment of brain disorders is limited by the insufficiency in delivering of therapeutic drugs into brain relating to highly limited transport of compounds through blood-brain barrier (BBB). Therefore, a lot of attempts have been made to rise above this problem using a variety of approaches. In this way, in silico techniques try to predict the brain permeability based on a range of physicochemical descriptors resulting from structures of the corresponding compounds. Most of models have some disadvantages which preclude making conclusive decision. The major defect is ignoring the main parts of process of permeabili...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - July 28, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Mehdipour AR, Hamidi M Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Understanding CYP2D6 Interactions.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Due to the polymorphic nature of CYP2D6, clinically significant issues can arise when drugs rely on that enzyme either for clearance, or metabolism to an active metabolite. Available screening methods to determine if the compound is likely to cause drug-drug interactions, or is likely to be a victim of inhibition of CYP2D6 by other compounds will be described. Computational models and examples will be given on strategies to design out the CYP2D6 liabilities for both heme-binding compounds and non-heme-binding compounds. PMID: 19638317 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Drug Discovery Today)
Source: Drug Discovery Today - July 24, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: de Groot MJ, Wakenhut F, Whitlock G, Hyland R Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Synthetic Drugs with Anti-ageing effects.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Although ageing is a natural wear and tear phenomenon, it can at least be postponed or prevented by certain approaches. Some chemicals which are present in the diet or in dietary supplements have been documented to have anti-ageing effects. Recently, a number of synthetic drugs used for other therapeutic indications have been shown to have anti-ageing potential. PMID: 19638318 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Drug Discovery Today)
Source: Drug Discovery Today - July 24, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Kapoor VK, Dureja J, Chadha R Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

The Changing Landscape of Cancer Drug Discovery: A Challenge to the Medicinal Chemist of Tomorrow.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Since the development of the first cytotoxic agents, synthetic organic chemistry has advanced enormously. The synthetic and medicinal chemists of today are at the centre of drug development and are involved in most, if not all, processes of drug discovery. Recent decreases in government funding and reformed educational policies could, however, seriously impact on drug discovery initiatives worldwide. Not only could these changes result in fewer scientific breakthroughs, but they could also negatively affect the training of our next generation of medicinal chemists. PMID: 19638319 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - July 24, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Pors K, Goldberg FW, Leamon CP, Rigby AC, Snyder SA, Falconer RA Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Adenylyl cyclases as innovative therapeutic goals.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Pharmacological modulation of intracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP) signalling could provide new therapeutic and experimental tools. Although drugs interfering with this pathway have traditionally targeted membrane receptors, the effector enzyme adenylyl cyclase (AC), which functions as a signalling catalyst, also presents an interesting target. Thus, development of isoform-selective stimulator and/or inhibitor compounds for AC could lead to organ-specific pharmacotherapeutics for treating heart failure, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. In this review, the potential of AC as the object of drug therapy is discussed. ...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - July 24, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Pavan B, Biondi C, Dalpiaz A Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Going to the Dark Side: Success Factors for Companies Leveraging Senior Academic Talent.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19632353 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Drug Discovery Today)
Source: Drug Discovery Today - July 22, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Yun JW Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

alpha7-nicotinic receptor antagonists at the beginning of a clinical era for NSCLC and Mesothelioma?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Of the human solid cancers, Non Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) and Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (MPM) display a natural history supporting the concept that they develop from multiple pre-neoplastic pathways. Recently, new evidence suggested that nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors (nAChRs) play a significant role in lung cancer predisposition and natural history. This review is based on some translational research aimed at the evaluation of the potential therapeutic effect of nAChR antagonists on NSCLC and MPM. The background and rationale of this approach is based on the experimental observations that: (a) NSCLC and M...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - July 14, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Paleari L, Cesario A, Fini M, Russo P Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Revealing promiscuous drug-target interactions by chemical proteomics.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The (poly-)pharmacological activities of a drug can only be understood if its interactions with cellular components are comprehensively characterized. Mass spectrometry-based chemical proteomics approaches have recently emerged as powerful tools for the characterization of drug-target interactions in samples from cell lines and tissues. At the same time, off-target activities can be identified. This information can contribute towards optimization of candidate dug molecules and reduction of side effects. In this review, we describe recent advances in chemical proteomics and outline potential applications in drug discove...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - July 9, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Bantscheff M, Scholten A, Heck AJ Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Understanding autoimmune disease: new targets for drug discovery.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A more complete understanding of the mechanisms that drive autoimmune diseases has begun to be translated into therapeutic options with significant clinical consequences. A clear example of this is the introduction of biological therapies, which have provided new therapeutic avenues, as well as validated the mediators (TNFalpha, IL-6), mechanisms (T cell costimulation, leukocyte migration), and cellular players (T and B lymphocytes) of the disease process itself. New discoveries into the role of Th17 and regulatory T cells and the epigenetic regulation of cytokine expression may offer novel intervention strategies to s...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - July 9, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Balagué C, Kunkel SL, Godessart N Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

'OnePoint' - Combining OneNote and SharePoint to facilitate knowledge-transfer.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The identification and development of novel drugs requires a multidisciplinary team of individuals whose membership changes during the lifecycle of a project. Incomplete knowledge transfer across this team can be a barrier to effective decision making and efficient drug discovery. We have deployed a new infrastructure supporting information storage and distribution within small teams using Microsoft's SharePoint server technology in conjunction with the desktop application OneNote. This delivers a user-friendly collaborative workspace that is fast, flexible and carries a low training burden. Demand from drug project te...
Source: Drug Discovery Today - July 9, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Barber CG, Haque N, Gardner B Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Digital Pathology in Drug Discovery and Development: Multi-site Integration.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article reviews the stages of multi-site digital pathology integration in large pharmaceutical companies, offering suggestions for success and highlighting challenges. PMID: 19596461 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Drug Discovery Today)
Source: Drug Discovery Today - July 7, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Potts SJ Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals

Herbals in the Control of Ageing.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The significance of herbals and herbal products is gaining world wide recognition. The concept of complementary or alternative medicine is becoming much more widely accepted and there is an increasing belief in the efficacy of herbal remedies. Recently, the role of herbal drugs, herbal products and certain phytochemicals in the control of ageing has been documented using modern scientific approaches. This review pulls together such studies and critiques the efficacy and value of herbal medicines in the control of the ageing process. PMID: 19596462 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Drug Discovery Today)
Source: Drug Discovery Today - July 7, 2009 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Kapoor VK, Dureja J, Chadha R Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: journals