Drug Discovery

Discovery

Home Drug Discovery Discovery
Hit Seeking

With a total collection of over one million small molecule compounds, our screening libraries can be instrumental for hit-finding programs. Ten percent of the total collection is dedicated to specific target areas, further focusing screening efforts in a cost-effective and expeditious way. For biological assay assistance, ChemDiv offers drug discovery services as a compliment to our extensive collection. We have especially extensive experience in the therapeutic areas of CNS, oncology, and metabolism.

In addition to assay-driven hit-finding, ChemDiv is well equipped to implement the process in silica. Ligand docking/scoring approaches can be explored with computer assisted drug design (CADD) programs.

When the 3-dimensional structure of the target is known, ChemDiv facilitates hit-finding with our fragment-based drug design library coupled with our ability to conduct protein cloning, expression, purification, co/crystallization and x-ray crystallography.

Hit to Lead Development

Hit compounds are often not very "drug-like". They likely suffer from one or more problems that render them unsuitable for use in animals. To remedy the situation, medicinal chemists at ChemDiv have devised useful medicinal chemistry filters that eliminate compounds with problematic features from a large pool of hits. Traditional biology-driven lead development is complemented by our team of exceptionally skilled synthetic chemists who strive to provide compounds with desirable lead properties.

Lead Optimization

From a substantial set of hit compounds, a smaller number have been culled which can be referred to as lead compounds. Now it is time to optimize these leads in the hopes of obtaining substances that can be administered to humans. Many of the features of hit to lead development are often continued during this phase, but in addition, close scrutiny is applied to preclinical development in vivo properties such as DMPK, toxicity and safety. Formulation issues and the intellectual property potential of emerging drug compounds also receive profound attention at this point.