FAST TRACKING DRUG DISCOVERY

• Access to drug discovery in novel areas of biology where some of the early stage risk has been removed

• Validated high throughput screens for novel drug targets with supporting biology

• Drug-like small molecules from optimised hits to well characterised leads that could form the basis for lead optimisation to candidate

Our new Drug Discovery Group will be developing innovative drug screens emerging from ground breaking MRC research. We are well positioned to identify unique drug targets in collaboration with our scientists and clinicians, many of whom are world leaders in their field. We will have available lead compounds displaying ADMET profiles that can form the corner stone of a major clinical candidate identification programme.

All Target selection is based on a rigorous "Pharma quality" evaluation, with an emphasis on novelty and serious unmet medical need. The DDG develops HTS compatible assays for a wide range of targets, including ion channels, enzymes, GPCRs and protein-protein interactions. Screening of a carefully constructed library, which represents a set of diverse low MW structures, provides good medicinal chemistry starting points. In many cases, structural information on the target is available and is utilized in the medicinal chemistry strategy. Our Medicinal Chemistry team has more than 80 people years of pharmaceutical company experience and aims to develop hits into lead-like compounds with efficacy in a relevant disease model.