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.

Evotec to collaborate with Merck on neurological disease drug discovery program

Evotec AG today announced that it has signed within the "NEU²-Consortium" framework and partially funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium fuer Bildung und Forschung - BMBF), an agreement with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, to develop pre-clinical candidates for an undisclosed neurological disease. Evotec will provide drug discovery expertise covering in vitro biology, medicinal chemistry and in vitro and in vivo pharmacology.

23 Nov 2010

Convergence enters drug discovery collaboration with Selcia for chronic pain treatment

Convergence Pharmaceuticals Limited, the new company focused on the development of novel and high value analgesic medicines, and Selcia Limited, a contract research organisation, today are pleased to announce that they have entered into a drug discovery collaboration to identify and develop high quality candidate molecules for the treatment of chronic pain.

22 Nov 2010

AVEO's RON antibody shows anti-tumor activity in human cancer xenografts

AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing cancer therapeutics, today announced preclinical data from AVEO's anti-RON antibody program which demonstrated the successful identification of antibodies with potent anti-tumor activity that demonstrated inhibition of the function of both wild type RON and the RONΔ160 variant, as well as a potential biomarker to identify tumors likely to respond to treatment with the anti-RON antibody.

19 Nov 2010

Scientists solve receptor structure that responds to neurotransmitter dopamine

A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has solved the structure of one of the receptors that responds to the neurotransmitter dopamine. Although dopamine transmission is essential to normal brain functioning, the biological assembly of the molecules involved in this crucial neuronal interplay had not been known until now.

19 Nov 2010

Scientists solve structure of key protein from Lassa virus

Scientists at Emory University and the University of St. Andrews have solved the structure of a key protein from Lassa virus, which is endemic to West Africa and can cause a deadly hemorrhagic fever.

18 Nov 2010

5-lipoxygenase protein modulates amyloid beta formation linked to Alzheimer's disease

A protein known to exist in the brain for more than 30 years, called 5-lipoxygenase, has been found to play a regulatory role in the formation of the amyloid beta in the brain, the major component of plaques implicated in the development of Alzheimer's disease, according to researchers at Temple University's School of Medicine.

18 Nov 2010

VX-770 drug candidate improves lung function in people with cystic fibrosis

In a study published in this week's New England Journal of Medicine, treatment with a new drug candidate known as VX-770 resulted in improvements in lung function and markers of disease in a Phase 2 clinical trial of 39 people with cystic fibrosis (CF). There were no discontinuations due to adverse events in the study, and the frequency of adverse events was similar across the study groups.

18 Nov 2010

New investigational drug improves lung function in CF patients

An investigational drug targeting a defective protein that causes cystic fibrosis has been shown to improve lung function in a small study of CF patients, according to findings published Nov. 18, 2010, in the New England Journal of Medicine.

17 Nov 2010

PrecisionMed enrolls first subject in Multiple Sclerosis Registry

PrecisionMed Inc. today announced at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego, enrollment of the first subject into the PrecisionMed Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Registry. The PrecisionMed MS Registry is a biological sample bank of DNA and serial RNA, CSF, serum and plasma associated with serial clinical testing utilizing PrecisionMed's clinical data procurement and storage capabilities.

17 Nov 2010

Eisai enters strategic drug discovery collaboration with FORMA Therapeutics

Eisai Inc., the U.S. pharmaceutical subsidiary of Tokyo-based Eisai Co., Ltd., and FORMA Therapeutics announced today that the two companies have signed a strategic drug discovery collaboration.

17 Nov 2010

Optivia, UCSF receive SBIR grant to develop transporter-based assay system

Optivia Biotechnology Inc., a leading provider of in vitro transporter assay services, today announced that the company and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), have received a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop an innovative system for characterizing the role transporter proteins play in the disposition of drugs by the liver.

16 Nov 2010

Isis, Xenon enter collaboration to discover and develop antisense drugs for AI

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced today a new collaboration to discover and develop antisense drugs as novel treatments for the common disease anemia of inflammation (AI).

16 Nov 2010

NovAliX enters agreement to acquire Graffinity

NovAliX SAS today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a majority interest in Graffinity Pharmaceuticals GmbH of Heidelberg, Germany, a leading fragment based drug discovery services company.

16 Nov 2010

4SC to present development of resminostat and preclinical drug candidates at EORTC-NCI-AACR symposium

4SC, a drug discovery and development company focused on autoimmune and cancer indications, today announced that it will present four posters and respective abstracts that highlight the development of its lead oncology compound resminostat and several preclinical drug candidates at the 22nd EORTC-NCI-AACR symposium from 16 - 19 November, 2010 in Berlin, Germany.

16 Nov 2010

BioTime third quarter total revenues increase 82% to $815,284

BioTime, Inc. today reported financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2010 and provided an update on recent corporate developments.

15 Nov 2010

Tufts University professor receives NIH Director's New Innovator Award

Joshua Kritzer, assistant professor in the School of Arts and Sciences Department of Chemistry at Tufts University, has been awarded one of 33 NIH Director's New Innovator Awards, one of the most prestigious grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health.

15 Nov 2010

Domainex, Sigma-Aldrich enter collaboration to study epigenetic proteins

Domainex Ltd., the Contract Research Organization committed to excellence in drug discovery, today announced a collaboration with Sigma-Aldrich that will provide essential tools, including biochemical assays and monoclonal antibodies, for the study of proteins involved in the rapidly developing field of epigenetics. These epigenetic proteins regulate DNA expression and can be critical to cancer and stem cell biology research. Funding from the UK Government-backed Technology Strategy Board will support this work.

15 Nov 2010

Astrimmune, London Genetics enter collaboration to plan biomarker identification program

London Genetics Limited, an expert in the use of pharmacogenetics in clinical drug discovery and development, and Astrimmune, which is focused on gastrointestinal cancers, are pleased to announce that they have entered into a collaboration to plan a biomarker identification programme.

14 Nov 2010

SCYNEXIS receives four grants under QTDP program to develop cyclophilin inhibitors

Drug discovery and development company SCYNEXIS, Inc. today announced that the Company has been awarded four grants totaling $977,917 under the U.S. Federal Government's Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project (QTDP). SCYNEXIS is developing a proprietary internal pipeline of cyclophilin inhibitors, a class of drugs that hold significant potential for the treatment of a broad range of diseases.

11 Nov 2010