Zelinsky Institute Inc. announced collaboration with ART-CHEM
Zelinsky Institute Inc. (Newark, DE, August 2009) - Zelinsky Institute Inc. expands its partnership and supplier network with the announcement of collaboration with one of the premier fine chemistry companies - ART-CHEM, which originated from Moscow, Russia, and has started its operations in Berlin, Germany, in 2005. ART-CHEM specializes in synthesis of highly diverse and rich in unique scaffolds HTS compounds and building blocks. The entire line of ART-CHEM product offerings is going to be available via Zelinsky Institute Inc., which is headquartered in and currently operates from Delaware, USA, offices.
ART-CHEM founder, Dr. B. Ugrak, comments, “We are pleased to become a part of Zelinsky Institute, a recognized supplier of specialty chemicals. Together we can provide greater value serving our, now, joined customer base.” Zelinsky Institute CEO, Dr. M. Niazoff, agrees adding, “We are happy to have ART-CHEM high quality fine chemistry products and service capabilities accessible via Zelinsky Institute. Together, we are looking forward to growing our market fueled by ever-evolving research demands.”
Collaboration aims at making ART-CHEM products and services known and easily accessible for existing and prospective Zelinsky Institute Inc. customers worldwide. September 2009 product databases distributed by Zelinsky Institute Inc. are going to include ART-CHEM’s drug-like and chemically diverse compounds for screening, building blocks, and intermediates. Zelinsky Institute Inc. is going to coordinate procurement, orders, and consolidated delivery of HTS products. Zelinsky Institute Inc. and ART-CHEM collaboration is open to custom projects going beyond the supply of just existing fine organic chemistry. For recently launched databases, products and services, inquiries, orders, and customized solutions please contact
May 13, 2009
TimTec Expands Partnership With Collaborative Drug Discovery Through Publishing Three Additional Libraries on CDD’s Free Public Access Database
Last October, TimTec and Collaborative Drug Discovery (CDD) established a collaboration in which CDD’s web-based data management system would host two TimTec Natural Products libraries on their free community Public Access site. Through this partnership, researchers would be able to register for a free account with CDD allowing them to chemically mine the contents of these TimTec compound libraries using CDD’s powerful, intuitive web-based database software.
TimTec is now offering three more libraries on the CDD Public Access database:
The TimTec ActiTarg-K Kinase Modulators library contains over 6,000 compounds known to inhibit protein kinase activity:
http://www.timtec.net/actitarg-k-kinase-modulators.html
The TimTec OGT Inhibitors Analogs library contains more than 300 compounds analogous to three known O-GlcNAc Transferase inhibiting molecules:
http://www.timtec.net/o-glcnac-transferase-inhibitors.html
Finally, the TimTec resourceful Diversity Set is a general screening collection of drug-like compounds that present most diversified selection from TimTec stock. This screening library contains 10,000 of the most diverse compounds, all complying with the Lipinski Rule of Five:
http://www.timtec.net/diversity-set-10k.html
TimTec’s five databases join more than 25 other databases containing chemical and biological data hosted on CDD Public Access, including:
- 47,000 Ki values for 20,000 compounds against 699 GPCR targets from the NIMH Psychoactive Drug Screening Program at the University of North Carolina
- Over 15,000 compounds with Malaria assay data from 5 public data sources
- 48,818 compounds from the Distributed Drug Discovery (D3) at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
- Almost 7,500 compounds with Tuberculosis antibacterial and cell viability information from 4 public data sets and growing thanks to their collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
About TimTec, LLC.
TimTec LLC. - http://www.timtec.net - is a privately held company located in NewarkDelaware, USA. It was founded in 1995 and began its work in the areas of acquisition and distribution of synthetic organic and natural compounds, custom synthesis, and laboratory equipment to become a full service partner for drug discovery. TimTec has established a global network of thousands of scientists from research centers around the world. The company has developed strong in-house expertise assembling general and targeted library collections for variety of research purposes. International customers include major pharmaceutical, biotech, agricultural, and educational companies and institutions, which use TimTec products for research and development programs.
For more information on TimTec library collections, please contact:
Kay Denisova
Business Development
TimTec LLC
Harmony Business Park Building 301-A
Newark, DE 19711
Tel 302 292 8500
Fax 302 292 8520
info(at)timtec.net
http://www.timtec.net
About Collaborative Drug Discovery, Inc.
Collaborative Drug Discovery, Inc. (CDD) - http://www.collaborativedrug.com - provides web-based software that organizes preclinical research data to help scientists advance new drug candidates more effectively. The CDD database enables scientists to “archive, mine, and collaborate”® around preclinical chemical and biological drug discovery data through a web-based interface. The software helps distributed research groups to safely store and intelligently analyze small molecule, enzyme, cell and animal bioactivity data accumulated from both low-throughput and high-throughput screens. Unique collaboration features and CDD’s community-oriented approach help unite globally dispersed humanitarian efforts against neglected infectious diseases. Similar collaborative strategies are also rapidly gaining prominence in the commercial arena. CDD offers its industrial-strength database software at a price affordable to academic laboratories, research foundations, and small companies.
For further information please contact:
Barry Bunin, PhD
President & CEO
Collaborative Drug Discovery (CDD)
1633 Bayshore Hwy, Suite 342
Burlingame, CA 94010
info(at)collaborativedrug.com
May 10, 2009
KINAXO’s Cellular Target Profiling® reveals mTOR as a new target of Celebrex
Martinsried, Germany, April 29, 2009 / b3c newswire / - Kinaxo Biotechnologies GmbH has successfully applied its Cellular Target Profiling® technology to identify the protein kinase mTOR as a new cellular target of celecoxib (Celebrex®, Pfizer). Celecoxib is a non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory Cox-2 inhibitor approved for the treatment of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and acute pain. In addition, celecoxib’s anti-proliferative effect has earned it a place in numerous clinical trials against several malignancies.
The discovery that celecoxib targets mTOR contributes to a better understanding of the drug’s mode of action and efficacy in cancer patients. mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) acts as a central regulator of cell proliferation, cell survival, angiogenesis and cell metabolism. Moreover, mTOR is a key intracellular convergence point for a number of signaling pathways that are abnormally activated in many types of cancer.
As traditional drug development approaches become more and more expensive, drug repositioning has been widely recognized as an opportunity to expand a drug’s therapeutical applications. Here, Cellular Target Profiling® provides a powerful approach to revealing new targets that indicate additional or alternative medical uses for clinically validated or approved drugs. Further information on celecoxib reprofiling (AN3) and similar studies with other small molecules (e.g. profiling of the natural product geldanamycin, AN2) can be downloaded from our website at www.kinaxo.com.
Link to the news release
http://www.b3cnewswire.com/popup.php?id=149
About KINAXO
Kinaxo Biotechnologies GmbH is a privately-held biotechnology company based in Munich/Martinsried, Germany. We offer advanced chemical proteomics and phosphoproteomics services to support lead compound selection, target deconvolution, drug reprofiling, and off-target toxicity assessment. Kinaxo has several ongoing collaborations, including with Boehringer Ingelheim, Johnson & Johnson and Takeda.
March 27, 2009
Plexxikon Receives Key Patents on Novel Compounds for Multiple Programs
BERKELEY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Plexxikon Inc. today announced the issuance of key composition-of-matter patents covering novel compounds discovered through the company’s Scaffold-Based Drug Discovery™ platform. Plexxikon’s pipeline of preclinical and clinical stage product opportunities currently span potential treatments for cardio-renal disease, CNS disorders, inflammation, metabolic disease and oncology. Two of the three recently issued patents (U.S. patents no. 7,498,342 and no. 7,504,509) cover compounds derived from the company’s discovery efforts to target protein kinases for the treatment of multiple indications including oncology and inflammation. The third patent (U.S. patent no. 7,476,746) covers novel compounds from the company’s PPAR (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor) program yielding novel therapeutic opportunities for metabolic disorders and other diseases.
“We are pleased to be adding these additional patents to our growing and broad intellectual property portfolio,” stated K. Peter Hirth, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Plexxikon. “Plexxikon’s novel approach to drug discovery has enabled the company to advance multiple first-in-class drug candidates which are covered by strong intellectual property, and as a result, to secure significant pharmaceutical industry interest in our programs.”
In contrast to fragment-based approaches, Plexxikon’s platform has generated multiple product opportunities by mining the relatively unexplored chemical space of scaffold-like cores and by utilizing co-crystallography early in the discovery process to guide chemical optimization of these scaffolds. Further, the company has developed methods to make highly selective kinase inhibitors as yet rarely seen. Plexxikon has demonstrated the ability to develop selectivity between two targets with as little as one amino acid difference in their catalytic domains. This capability has created the opportunity for the development of new targeted drugs not only for oncology, but also for chronic disease indications outside oncology where safety hurdles are even higher. To date, Plexxikon’s platform has led to the development of a targeted medicine for the treatment of melanoma, a drug candidate for polycystic kidney disease (PKD), an oral agent for rheumatoid arthritis and a broad spectrum oral diabetic therapeutic, all representing novel agents addressing significant unmet needs.
Dr. Prabha Ibrahim Promoted to Vice President of Chemistry
In other news, Prabha N. Ibrahim, Ph.D., was promoted to the position of vice president of chemistry, bringing over 15 years of experience to her position. As head of chemistry since 2002, she has played a key role in building the company’s synthetic and medicinal chemistry capabilities leading to the discovery of Plexxikon’s novel drug candidates now in the clinic and in preclinical development. Prior to Plexxikon, Dr. Ibrahim was a senior scientist at CV Therapeutics, where she was responsible for the identification and development of preclinical candidates for cardiovascular indications. She also previously worked at Amgen, where she played an integral role in small molecule drug discovery for inflammation therapeutics. Dr. Ibrahim earned her Ph.D. at the University of Victoria, Canada, and was a Welch Foundation Fellow at Rice University in Houston.
Plexxikon Profile
Plexxikon is a leader in the structure-guided discovery and development of novel small molecule pharmaceuticals to treat human disease. The company’s clinical stage programs include PLX4032 for the treatment of melanoma and colorectal cancer, PLX5568 for the treatment of PKD and PLX204 for the treatment of diabetes. Among the company’s preclinical development programs, candidates are being developed for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases.
Plexxikon’s proprietary Scaffold-Based Drug Discovery™ platform is being applied to build a pipeline of product opportunities in multiple therapeutic areas. This discovery process integrates multiple state-of-the-art technologies, including structural screening as one key component that provides a significant competitive advantage over other drug discovery approaches. To date, the company has discovered a portfolio of clinical and preclinical stage compounds in varied disease areas addressing significant unmet needs in each therapeutic category.
Plexxikon is seeking pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners for select collaboration opportunities. For more information, please visit www.plexxikon.com.
March 20, 2009
Plexxikon Receives Key Patents on Novel Compounds for Multiple Programs
BERKELEY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Plexxikon Inc. today announced the issuance of key composition-of-matter patents covering novel compounds discovered through the company’s Scaffold-Based Drug Discovery™ platform. Plexxikon’s pipeline of preclinical and clinical stage product opportunities currently span potential treatments for cardio-renal disease, CNS disorders, inflammation, metabolic disease and oncology. Two of the three recently issued patents (U.S. patents no. 7,498,342 and no. 7,504,509) cover compounds derived from the company’s discovery efforts to target protein kinases for the treatment of multiple indications including oncology and inflammation. The third patent (U.S. patent no. 7,476,746) covers novel compounds from the company’s PPAR (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor) program yielding novel therapeutic opportunities for metabolic disorders and other diseases.
“We are pleased to be adding these additional patents to our growing and broad intellectual property portfolio,” stated K. Peter Hirth, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Plexxikon. “Plexxikon’s novel approach to drug discovery has enabled the company to advance multiple first-in-class drug candidates which are covered by strong intellectual property, and as a result, to secure significant pharmaceutical industry interest in our programs.”
In contrast to fragment-based approaches, Plexxikon’s platform has generated multiple product opportunities by mining the relatively unexplored chemical space of scaffold-like cores and by utilizing co-crystallography early in the discovery process to guide chemical optimization of these scaffolds. Further, the company has developed methods to make highly selective kinase inhibitors as yet rarely seen. Plexxikon has demonstrated the ability to develop selectivity between two targets with as little as one amino acid difference in their catalytic domains. This capability has created the opportunity for the development of new targeted drugs not only for oncology, but also for chronic disease indications outside oncology where safety hurdles are even higher. To date, Plexxikon’s platform has led to the development of a targeted medicine for the treatment of melanoma, a drug candidate for polycystic kidney disease (PKD), an oral agent for rheumatoid arthritis and a broad spectrum oral diabetic therapeutic, all representing novel agents addressing significant unmet needs.
Dr. Prabha Ibrahim Promoted to Vice President of Chemistry
In other news, Prabha N. Ibrahim, Ph.D., was promoted to the position of vice president of chemistry, bringing over 15 years of experience to her position. As head of chemistry since 2002, she has played a key role in building the company’s synthetic and medicinal chemistry capabilities leading to the discovery of Plexxikon’s novel drug candidates now in the clinic and in preclinical development. Prior to Plexxikon, Dr. Ibrahim was a senior scientist at CV Therapeutics, where she was responsible for the identification and development of preclinical candidates for cardiovascular indications. She also previously worked at Amgen, where she played an integral role in small molecule drug discovery for inflammation therapeutics. Dr. Ibrahim earned her Ph.D. at the University of Victoria, Canada, and was a Welch Foundation Fellow at Rice University in Houston.
Plexxikon Profile
Plexxikon is a leader in the structure-guided discovery and development of novel small molecule pharmaceuticals to treat human disease. The company’s clinical stage programs include PLX4032 for the treatment of melanoma and colorectal cancer, PLX5568 for the treatment of PKD and PLX204 for the treatment of diabetes. Among the company’s preclinical development programs, candidates are being developed for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases.
Plexxikon’s proprietary Scaffold-Based Drug Discovery™ platform is being applied to build a pipeline of product opportunities in multiple therapeutic areas. This discovery process integrates multiple state-of-the-art technologies, including structural screening as one key component that provides a significant competitive advantage over other drug discovery approaches. To date, the company has discovered a portfolio of clinical and preclinical stage compounds in varied disease areas addressing significant unmet needs in each therapeutic category.
Plexxikon is seeking pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners for select collaboration opportunities. For more information, please visit www.plexxikon.com.
February 12, 2009
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. (LGND) Enters into Screening Agreement with Trevena
SAN DIEGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND - News) and Trevena Inc. today announced the initiation of a joint research and license alliance to screen targets using Trevena’s novel biological platform against Ligand’s combinatorial library of compounds, to identify active compounds with potential for development as novel G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) therapeutics.
Under the terms of the agreement, Trevena has been granted exclusive worldwide rights to sublicense active compounds resulting from the collaboration. Ligand expects to screen 24 targets over two years and receive payments triggered by a tiered screening paradigm for each target.
“We are delighted to enter into this collaboration that allows us to generate cash flow from the combinatorial chemistry technology we gained through our acquisition of Pharmacopeia,” said John L. Higgins, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ligand. “Working closely with the Trevena team, we hope to rapidly identify and advance novel drug candidates using their unique insight into GPCR signaling pathways.”
Maxine Gowen, President and CEO of Trevena said, “We are excited to work with these exceptional scientists and get access to this proven chemistry platform. We believe that this collaboration will accelerate our drug discovery efforts and the validation of our biological platform.”
About Trevena, Inc.
Trevena, Inc. is a Philadelphia-based drug discovery company focused on developing pharmaceutical products targeting GPCRs. Pharmaceutical products that target GPCRs represent up to 40% of marketed drugs today. Trevena’s drug discovery platform, licensed from Duke University Medical Center, is based on extensive research from the laboratories of scientists Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D. and Howard A. Rockman, M.D. The company’s drug discovery portfolio is currently focused on programs for cardiovascular and CNS indications. Trevena, Inc. is privately held. (www.trevenainc.com)
About Ligand Pharmaceuticals
Ligand discovers and develops new drugs that address critical unmet medical needs of patients with muscle wasting, frailty, hormone-related diseases, osteoporosis, inflammatory diseases and anemia. Ligand’s proprietary drug discovery and development programs are based on its leadership position in gene transcription technology. In December 2008, we acquired Pharmacopeia in a transaction that provides Ligand rights to numerous collaborations with pharmaceutical companies, pipeline programs and the world’s largest combinatorial chemistry library.
January 12, 2009
Galapagos enters strategic alliance in diabetes and obesity with Merck & Co., Inc.
Galapagos NV (Euronext: GLPG) announced today that it has entered into a multi-year global strategic alliance with Merck & Co., Inc. to develop potential new therapies in obesity and diabetes.
Galapagos will be responsible for the discovery and pre-clinical development of new small molecule candidate drugs based on novel Galapagos targets. Merck will have the exclusive option to license each candidate for clinical development and commercialization on a worldwide basis. The alliance will make use of Galapagos’ proprietary SilenceSelect(R: 36.098, -1.882, -4.96%) target discovery platform for identification of novel targets in obesity and diabetes. After validation, targets will be selected by a joint steering committee and entered into screening and chemistry by Galapagos. Merck has the option to acquire an exclusive license to each candidate drug and upon exercise of such an option, Merck will be responsible for the development and commercialization of the candidate drug. Galapagos may execute phase I clinical studies and will have the right to further develop and commercialize certain compounds for which Merck does not exercise its exclusive option.
Under the terms of the agreement, Galapagos will receive an upfront fee of EUR 1.5 million from Merck. In addition Galapagos is eligible to receive discovery, development and regulatory milestone payments that could potentially exceed EUR 170 million total for multiple products, as well as specific sales milestones and royalties upon commercialization of any products covered under the agreement.
“The alliance with Merck in obesity and diabetes further demonstrates Galapagos’ ability to expand into new therapeutic areas,” said Onno van de Stolpe, CEO. “Galapagos has a proven track record of delivering on its alliance programs, making us attractive to potential pharma partners seeking to fill their pipelines with medicines based on novel modes of action. Galapagos has been successful through careful management of its R&D programs; this early stage alliance with Merck fits nicely into our alliance infrastructure as other programs advance into later stages.”
“By combining Galapagos’ novel target identification strategy with Merck’s drug development expertise this collaboration provides a unique opportunity to discover and develop potential new therapies for diabetes and obesity,” said Catherine Strader, Vice President, External Basic Research, Merck Research Laboratories.
Conference call and webcast presentation
Galapagos will conduct a conference call open to the public today at 11.30 Central European Time (CET: 14.7001, -0.06, -0.41%), which will also be webcast. To participate in the conference call, please call +31 20 794 8504, ten minutes prior to commencement. A question and answer session will follow the presentation. Click here to access the live audio webcast. The archived webcast also will be available for replay shortly after the close of the call.
About diabetes and obesity
Diabetes mellitus is a disorder in which blood sugar (glucose) levels are abnormally high because the body does not produce enough insulin to meet its needs. Patients with diabetes type 1 (10% of diabetes patients) have lost the ability to produce insulin themselves. In type 2 diabetes, patients develop resistance to the effects of insulin; obesity is the chief risk factor in developing this type, as 80-90% of patients with type 2 diabetes are obese. Diabetes symptoms include increased urination, thirst, and weight loss. Diabetes also can lead to nerve damage, blood vessel damage, and increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure. About 15% of people over the age of 70 develop Type 2 diabetes. Treatment of diabetes involves diet, exercise, education, and, for most people, drugs. Global sales of diabetes drugs totaled $15 billion in 2005[1].
Obesity is the excess accumulation of body fat and is defined as having a Body Mass Index[2] > 30. Being obese increases the risk of many disorders, such as diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers, and can result in high blood pressure and early death. Increasing activity and reducing caloric intake are essential to treating obesity, but some people also need to take drugs. Around 10% of the world population is obese[3], and sales of obesity drugs in the world’s largest markets are expected to grow from $500 million in 2006 to more than $2 billion by 2016[4].
About Galapagos
Galapagos (Euronext Brussels: GLPG; Euronext Amsterdam: GLPGA; OTC: GLPYY) is a drug discovery company with pre-clinical programs in bone and joint diseases and bone metastasis. Its BioFocus DPI division offers a full suite of target-to-drug discovery products and services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies, encompassing target discovery and validation, screening and drug discovery through to delivery of pre-clinical candidates. BioFocus DPI also provides adenoviral reagents for rapid identification and validation of novel drug targets, compound libraries for drug screening as well as chemogenomics and ADMET database products to select targets and compounds. Galapagos currently employs about 460 people and operates facilities in six countries, with global headquarters in Mechelen, Belgium. More information about Galapagos can be found at www.glpg.com.
November 27, 2008
Trends in Drug Research 27th Noordwijkerhout-Camerino-Cyprus Conference Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands, May 3 - 8, 2009
The Symposium is sponsored by the European Federation of Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC).
The Organising and Scientific Committees cordially invite you to attend the 27 edition of this meeting on Trends in Drug Research. The interplay between molecular structure and biological activity is central to contemporary biomedical and translational research, relevant not only to structural biologists but also to diverse scientists involved in the study of bioactive compounds and signalling mediators and those working in drug discovery and development.
The scientific programme will include plenary lectures, oral communications and poster sessions. Registration will open on Sunday May 3, followed by an inaugural evening lecture and a welcome gathering.
The scientific programme ends on Thursday May 7 and the meeting will be concluded by the symposium dinner on Thursday evening. On Friday after the conference, a complimentary workshop “Virtual Screening and De Novo Design” is offered by BioSolveIT.
REGISTRATION Information and the complete SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME is available on the SYMPOSIUM’S WEBSITE: WWW.NOORDWIJKERHOUTMEDCHEM.ORG
PROGRAMME
Opening keynote lecture
Chairman Prof. Henk TIMMERMAN (VU UNIVERSITY AMSTERDAM, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Chemistry’s Role In Target Identification And Validation Dr. Scott A. BILLER (NOVARTIS, Cambridge, United States)
KINASE INHIBITORS: TARGETING THE NON-ATP SITE
Chairman: Dr. Edmond DIFFERDING (UCB, Braine-l’Alleud, Belgium)
Discovery And Development of Selective, Orally Bioavailable Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors For Targeted Treatment Of Human Cancers Prof. Stephen K. BURLEY (SGX PHARMACEUTICALS, SAN DIEGO, United States)
Non-Competitive Inhibitors of MEK1: from Discovery to the Clinic Dr. Jeffrey OHREN (PFIZER, GROTON, United States)
Allosteric Inhibition of Kinase Function Philip E. SANDERSON (MERCK, Rahway, United States)
CHEMICAL AND ENZYMATIC MODIFICATION OF THERAPEUTIC PEPTIDES AND PROTEINS TO IMPROVE THEIR MODE OF ACTION
Chairman: Dr. Stan VAN BOECKEL (ORGANON, Oss, The Netherlands)
Title to be announced
Dr. Jesper LAU (NOVO NORDISK, Maaloev, Denmark)
Sugars and Proteins
Prof. Ben DAVIS (OXFORD UNIVERSITY, Oxford, United Kingdom)
CarboCarrier(TM): a Novel Technology to Extend the Half-life of Small Proteins and Peptides Martin DE KORT (ORGANON, Oss, The Netherlands)
PROMISES IN GPCR DRUG DISCOVERY
Chairman: Prof. ROB LEURS (LEIDEN/AMSTERDAM CENTER FOR DRUG RESEARCH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Structural Genomics of GPCRs; New Opportunities for Drug Discovery Chris TATE (MRC LABORATORY OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, Cambridge , Belgium)
GPCR Hetero-Dimerisation: Contribution to Receptor Pharmacology and Function Prof. Graeme MILLIGAN (UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW, Glasgow, United Kingdom)
Dicovery & Development of Allosteric Modulators: Hopes and Promises Dr Emmanuel LE POUL (ADDEX PHARMA, Plan les Ouates, Switzerland)
TRANSPORTERS
Chairman: Prof. Gerhard ECKER (UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA, Vienna, Austria)
Predicting Substrate Properties for ABC-Transporter - Safety Sciences on the Molecular Level Prof. Gerhard ECKER (UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA, Vienna, Austria)
Drug Transport and Metabolism: Value of Knockout and Transgenic Mouse Models Dr. Alfred SCHINKEL (HET NEDERLANDS KANKER INSTITUUT , Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Title to be announced
Prof. Robert FORD (THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER, Manchester, United Kingdom)
OFF-TARGET EFFECTS
Chairman: Prof. Hugo KUBINYI (Weisenheim am Sand, Germany)
GPCR Antitargets – Prediction and Prevention of Side Effects Dr. Thomas KLABUNDE (SANOFI-AVENTIS DEUTSCHLAND GMBH, Frankfurt am Main, Germany)
Understanding Ion Channels Using Computational Approaches Dr. Marcel J. DE GROOT (PFIZER, Sandwich, United Kingdom)
The QSARome of the Receptorome: Development of Robust QSAR Models Capable of Predicting Compound Binding Profiles against Multiple Targets Prof. Alexander TROPSHA (UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL, Chapel Hill, United States)
FRAGMENT BASED DRUG DISCOVERY
Chairman: Dr. Iwan DE ESCH (VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Experiences in Fragment-based Lead Discovery Prof. Roderick E. HUBBARD (UNIVERSITY OF YORK, York, United Kingdom)
SPR Biosensor-Based Fragment Screening and Lead Characterization Prof. U. Helena DANIELSON (UPPSALA UNIVERSITY, Uppsala, Sweden)
Novel-Generation Kinase Inhibitors: Deep Pocket Binders by Fragment- Based Design Dr. Gerhard MÜLLER (CSO PROTEROS FRAGMENTS GMBH, Munich/Martinsried, Germany)
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DRUG DISCOVERY
Chairman: Robin THURMOND (JOHNSON & JOHNSON, San Diego, United States)
Histamine H4 Antagonists as Future Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Robin THURMOND (JOHNSON & JOHNSON, San Diego, United States)
JAK3 Kinase: a Molecular Target for Treatment of Inflammatory Diseases and Renal Transplant Rejection Dr. Paul S. CHANGELIAN (CHANGELIAN BIOSCIENCE, LLC, , United States)
Molecular Mechanim of Action for Chemokine and Other Anti-inflammatory Agents on 7TM Receptors Dr. Thue W. SCHWARTZ (UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN, Copenhagen, Denmark)
Complimentary Workshop on Friday: “Virtual Screening and De Novo Design” offered by BioSolveIT Late Departure - the transportation will be provided by the organisers.
http://www.LDOrganisation.com
Fragment Based Screening Service at CRELUX and ZoBio
Munich (D) and Leiden (NL), November 24, 2008 / b3c newswire / – CRELUX and ZoBio announced today that they have successfully executed their first fragment based screening projects from a jointly established platform.
One of the first targets, which also will be made accessible to customers, was Pim1, a kinase that has been implicated in the progression of several haematological malignancies. In addition to the “off the shelf” data on Pim1, tailor made fragment based screening projects are available for customers upon request.
The joint technology platform combines ZoBio’s proprietary Target Immobilized NMR Screening (TINS) technology with CRELUX’s high performance kinase crystallography platform. In the first campaign Pim1 was screened by TINS using ZoBio’s fragment library, hits were assessed in an in vitro kinase assay and the top 50 hits have been soaked into protein crystals. 37 out of these 50 fragments showed defined binding modes. Together with this high hit rate the structural diversity within this group generated multiple points for optimization and clearly proved the power of this technology combination.
“We are delighted to have found a perfect partner for entering into high performance fragment based screening. The collaboration with ZoBio adds another crucial drug discovery technology to our service portfolio”, commented Dr. Michael Schäffer, CEO of CRELUX.
“This project demonstrates the power of the combination of TINS with top notch crystallography. I am absolutely convinced that together we can provide our customers with critical starting point to jump start their challenging or failed targets.” noted Dr. Gregg Siegal, CSO of ZoBio.
CRELUX has used its state-of-the-art structural biology platform to solve more than 270 crystal and co-crystal structures for pharma and biotech companies. This platform encompasses all steps – from target cloning and expression all the way to high-throughput protein crystallization and in-house x-ray crystallography.
ZoBio provides fragment discovery and characterization services to the pharmaceutical and biotech industries using its proprietary Target Immobilized NMR Screening (TINS) platform. TINS, with its unparalleled sensitivity and reliability, has been used to discovery highly diverse, efficient ligands for a variety of targets including kinases, protein-protein interactions, viral targets and membrane proteins.
November 19, 2008
Virtual Screening Gives Drug Design a Boost
San Diego, CA (OBBeC) – Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, developed a unique computational approach to identify key compounds that could lead to new drugs to combat African sleeping sickness — a disease spread by the biting tsetse fly and caused by the parasite Trypanosoma brucei.
The approach developed by McCammon’s group uses a combination of several computational tools. It starts with a detailed model of the biological target –REL1 in this case — derived from X-ray crystallography. It then uses biophysical principles to find all the ways in which the protein can twist, turn, and wiggle.
McCammon’s computational method has already proven its utility for designing other important drugs. His group used it to develop a model for a new class of drugs to treat AIDS that led to raltegravir, which the Food and Drug Administration approved in 2007. McCammon’s team also used the method to identify promising drug candidates for treating H5N1 avian flu.
