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.

SRU Biosystems OK'd to conduct business

SRU Biosystems announces the United States District Court for the District of Delaware has resolved in SRU's favor a dispute over the content and scope of a permanent injunction order sought by Corning.

2 Aug 2006

US patent granted for 4SC's clinical Project

The Munich-based drug discovery and development company 4SC AG has been informed by the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) that the office has granted the patent with the US patent number 7,071,355.

27 Jul 2006

Evotec sells single molecule detection technology to Olympus

Evotec AG has announced that its Tools and Technologies Division has sold the core of its Single Molecule Detection Technology and transferred or licensed the corresponding IP portfolio to Olympus Corporation, Tokyo, Japan.

From Evident Corporation - Life Sciences 24 Jul 2006

Ranbaxy to acquire the Mundogen generic business from GlaxoSmithKline

Ranbaxy, India's largest pharmaceutical company, and among the top ten generic pharmaceutical companies in the world, announced today that the Company has acquired the Mundogen generic business of GlaxoSmithKline.

19 Jul 2006

Proteolytic activity monitored by fluorescence resonance energy transfer through quantum-dot-peptide conjugates

Using a synthetic peptide modeled after the protein that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) uses to enter cells, a multi-institutional research team has created quantum dots that can penetrate the cell membrane and image internal structures in a cell.

10 Jul 2006

SRU Biosystems awarded new U.S. patent

SRU Biosystems has announced that U.S. Patent 7,070,987 (the '987 patent), entitled "Guided mode resonant filter biosensor using a linear grating surface structure" was issued to SRU Biosystems, Inc. on July 4, 2006.

10 Jul 2006

Research could lead to new treatments for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School have identified biochemical signals that attract pathogenic cells to damaged lung tissue - one of the first steps in a chain of events leading to a lethal disease called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis or IPF.

23 May 2006

Scientists detect cancer genes with new algorithm

Researchers at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences have developed a new algorithm that enhances the ability to detect a cancer gene, and have applied their algorithm to map the set of tumor-suppressor genes involved in lung cancer.

10 May 2006

Study indicates how drug efficacy can be increased by manipulating the signalling mechanism

Researchers believe they have found a way to change the action of 60 percent of currently available medications, in some cases making them many times more effective, according to an article published in the April 21 edition of the journal Science. The discovery has the potential to improve treatments for diseases including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, depression and arthritis. The study describes a new way to manipulate perhaps the most important signaling mechanism in human cells: G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs).

28 Apr 2006

New technique to speed discovery of drug targets in chemical genetics

Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center have developed a new technique to speed discovery of drug targets in chemical genetics. Fox Chase researcher Jeffrey R. Peterson, Ph.D., and his colleagues describe a new way to swiftly find the proteins targeted by small molecule inhibitors during high-throughput screening (HTS) experiments. The new work offers a critical solution to a common stumbling block in this booming field of drug discovery.

26 Apr 2006

Nimesulide fights breast cancer by targeting key enzyme

A pain-killing medication appears to halt the production of an enzyme that is key to a common form of breast cancer, a new study using tissue cultures suggests.

16 Apr 2006

MPD Foundation funds research for incurable blood disorders

The Myeloproliferative Disorders Foundation has awarded $750,000 to establish the MPD Research Alliance, a collaboration of the University of Illinois at Chicago, Harvard Medical School and Mayo Clinic to accelerate drug development for incurable, progressive bone marrow disorders.

11 Apr 2006

Whole genome analysis of the protein kinases from Dictyostelium

The journal PLoS Genetics has published the findings of a team of scientists at the nonprofit Boston Biomedical Research Institute that provides a whole genome analysis of the protein kinases from a scientifically valuable model organism known as Dictyostelium.

10 Apr 2006

Researchers identify potential targets for more effective analgesic drugs with potentially fewer side effects

Studying mice, pain researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified two key components in the pain cascade that may provide targets for more effective analgesic drugs with potentially fewer side effects

6 Apr 2006

Promising new targets for Alzheimer's drug therapies

An enzyme previously associated with preventing the dementia of Alzheimer's disease now appears to play an even bigger role in safeguarding against the disease, bringing the promise of new targets for drug therapies.

4 Apr 2006

Proteomics yields new drug targets for treating cardiogenic shock

When it comes to cell signaling and bioregulation, it's tough to find a more important molecule than nitric oxide (NO). Dysfunction of NO-mediated signaling is thought to be a culprit in lethal cardiovascular conditions such as angina, and septic, cardiogenic and hemorrhagic shock; it may play a role in many other illnesses as well.

3 Apr 2006

Drug discoveries may be aided by formation of drug-target database

The latest issue of SCIENCE magazine features a brief about the work of UMBI scientists and their Binding Database (BindingDB) project.

27 Mar 2006

Removing a gene involved in repairing damaged DNA causes metabolic syndrome

Removing a gene involved in repairing damaged DNA causes mice to develop the metabolic syndrome, researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have discovered.

21 Feb 2006

New system for analyzing how drugs bind to proteins

Researchers at Florida State University's National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and Scripps Florida have developed and evaluated a robust new system for analyzing how drugs bind to proteins. This groundbreaking work could speed the delivery of potential new drugs and improve existing ones.

19 Feb 2006

Chink in cancer's armor

Much as the famed starship Enterprise would deploy a deflector shield to evade enemy attack, tumor cells are capable of switching on a molecular force field of their own to fend off treatments aimed at killing them. Now University of Florida researchers have found a chink in their armor.

13 Feb 2006