Motivated by an unmet medical need, you’ve identified a mechanism that may play a fundamental role in a medical condition that is currently poorly treated. You want to look at possible drug molecules that could modulate the mechanism to see how it might affect this condition – but how do you take this from an idea to a promising starting point for a new drug treatment?

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In early small molecule drug discovery research, the process of going from initial idea to final pharmaceutical product is a complex, thorough, expensive process, and its success depends on your smart idea about how the disease might be treated. However, almost as important as the idea is the place from which you start. The pharmaceutical industry has invested a lot of money developing technologies to identify good starting points for drug discovery. One of the most established methods is high-throughput screening (HTS).

HTS involves testing large collections of chemicals (compound libraries) to identify molecules that bind to your target and modify the disease mechanism in the desired manner. This screening process is now largely automated and enables anywhere up to several million compounds to be screened rapidly with follow-up screening which can quickly highlight likely future issues, including off-target toxicity.

Until very recently it was normal for new insights into disease to be made by university researchers and for pharmaceutical companies to take over and do the work required to develop a treatment. However, pharmaceutical companies are increasingly working in a collaborative manner with academic institutions to identify disease mechanisms and initiate drug discovery projects.

This strategic partnership between academia and industry combines the scientific knowledge of university researchers with industry expertise to advance early drug discovery. In some cases, universities have recruited drug discovery experts to work within their institutions to initiate the drug discovery process and further enable external collaboration. The TRO Drug Discovery Group (DDG) is such a group, based at UCL School of Pharmacy.

Automated plate reading of Biochemical assays at the UCL TRO DDG – Combination of the S-lab robotic arm and the Sense plate reader allows for assay plates to be stacked up and automatically read.

By performing the wet science surrounding your drug discovery target (developing a screening assay, screening compounds) and developing a potential lead compound (synthesising and testing analogues of the hit molecules) the team is de-risking your project for industry partnering, shortening the time to testing your idea in a clinical setting.

The DDG implements an industry-standard approach to the process and provides a clear path of entrepreneurial development for UCL discoveries. By utilising the high-throughput screening capabilities available in its biology and chemistry labs, the DDG is able to build robust assays and data packages for future development.

An important component of what the team has achieved is enabled by a close working relationship with the Open Innovation team at AstraZeneca (AZ). On several occasions that has allowed screening of AZ compounds against UCL drug discovery targets and initiated new drug discovery projects.

In addition, the DDG has an extensive network of industry professionals. On occasions this has allowed linking of UCL researchers with industry experts to provide access to key technologies or further refine early drug discovery hypotheses and strategies.

The DDG offers free advice and tailored support to develop your drug discovery projects and facilitate access to funding the development pathway. Please contact us for more information or if you require help with developing your small molecule research.

Reviewed by Dr Richard Angell. 

References:

• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352873717300653
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3058157/
• https://www.technologynetworks.com/tn/articles/high-throughput-screening-accelerating-drug-discovery-efforts-288926
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3269696/
• https://www.britannica.com/technology/pharmaceutical-industry/Drug-discovery-and-development
• https://www.biopharmatrend.com/post/30-pharma-rd-outsourcing-is-on-the-rise/