What is optimization in drug discovery?
Lead optimization is the process by which a drug candidate is designed after an initial lead compound is identified.
What is lead generation and optimization in drug discovery?
Hit to lead (H2L) also known as lead generation is a stage in early drug discovery where small molecule hits from a high throughput screen (HTS) are evaluated and undergo limited optimization to identify promising lead compounds.
What is lead optimization in drug development?
Lead optimization aims at enhancing the most promising compounds to improve effectiveness, diminish toxicity, or increase absorption. Many of the technologies for lead discovery overlap with lead optimization as researchers attempt to incorporate the best drug characteristics early in the process.
What is lead discovery in drug discovery?
During lead discovery, an intensive search ensues to find a drug-like small molecule or biological therapeutic, typically termed a development candidate, that will progress into preclinical, and if successful, into clinical development (Figure 2) and ultimately be a marketed medicine.
What is lead identification and lead optimization?
Lead identification and optimization is a crucial step in the drug discovery program. Aim of lead optimization is to maximize bonded and non-bonded interactions with the active site of selected drug targets to increase selectivity, improve activity and reduce side effects.
How is lead optimization performed?
Optimization of the compounds is done by medicinal chemists using advanced organic synthesis methods or by biotechnological methods for the production of biological products. …
What is the most important part of lead optimization?
As the final stage in the preclinical drug discovery process, the main goal of the lead optimization phase is to maintain the desired properties of the drug’s main components, while reducing any deficiencies that may exist in its structure.
What is drug discovery?
The process of drug discovery involves the identification of candidates, synthesis, characterization, screening, and assays for therapeutic efficacy. Once a compound has shown its value in these tests, it will begin the process of drug development prior to clinical trials.
How are lead molecules useful in drug discovery?
In medicine, a chemical compound that shows promise as a treatment for a disease and may lead to the development of a new drug. Thousands of compounds are tested in the laboratory to find a lead (“leading”) compound that may act on specific genes or proteins involved in a disease.
What are assays in drug discovery?
Assays are investigative procedures that qualitatively assess a compound or examine a compound’s effects on identified molecular, cellular, or biochemical targets. The first steps in drug development are the identification and validation of potential drug targets involved in human disease.
What are the different methods of drug discovery?
For drug discovery, two different complementary approaches can be applied: classical pharmacology, also known as phenotypic drug discovery, which is the historical basis of drug discovery, and reverse pharmacology, also designated target-based drug discovery.
Why are drugs discovered?
Typically, researchers discover new drugs through: New insights into a disease process that allow researchers to design a product to stop or reverse the effects of the disease. Many tests of molecular compounds to find possible beneficial effects against any of a large number of diseases.
How is lead optimization used in drug discovery?
Lead Optimization Lead optimization is a critical process that culminates in the identification of a preclinical candidate. The most promising hit series, once they are identified through hit-to-lead efforts, advance into the lead optimization stage of drug discovery.
Which is a case study of lead optimization?
Lead Optimization in Discovery Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics/Case study: The Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Protease Inhibitor SCH 503034. Perspectives in Medicinal Chemistry 1; 1-9.
How is data collected during the lead optimization stage?
During the lead optimization stage, data collected from in vivo pharmacokinetic studies is often further screened through the use of high throughput DMPK screening in vitro tests.
What does hit mean in preclinical drug discovery?
Once target validation studies have been completed, the hit identification and lead discovery stages of the preclinical drug discovery process can continue. The term “hit” is used to describe a molecule or compound that exhibits the desired activity, which will be reconfirmed during these testing procedures.