DRUG DISCOVERY Product focused drug discovery
Robert S. DeWitte · 2003
Advanced Chemistry Development 702-90 Adelaide West Toronto, Ontario M5H 3V9, Canada Tel +416 368 3435 x228 Fax +416 368 5596 [email protected] P harmaceutical research has a big problem. Development and Discovery are two independent activities with a very narrow bridge between them. That’s when they’re in the same company. More often nowadays, compounds are discovered and developed by different organizations. In order to deliver compounds to development organizations that are truly developable, Discovery needs to adopt a product focus, or a “developability” focus. Certainly the first wave of this has begun: predictive ADMET, in which I include in vitro and in silico attempts to qualify compounds early on. There’s more to developing a drug than bioavailability and toxicity, however, and the coupling between Discovery and Development can be made much more efficient, if considerations such as formulation and manufacturing can be imparted to the Discovery mindset, and if precious know how from Discovery can roll forward into Development.