Alignment of Synthesis, Medicinal Chemistry and Structural Genomics to Accelerate UK Drug Discovery: Network SMS-Drug

This programme will establish an Academia-Users Network in Chemical Biology to initiate, establish and nurture collaborative projects for the advancement of the drug discovery process. It aims to expand the capability of UK drug discovery, with new drug targets, new tools to validate targets and new multidisciplinary partnerships to explore the platforms, tools and targets of the future.

In the post-genomic age opportunities for the development of new clinically validated targets for drug discovery and ultimately medicines are considerable. Drug discovery resources in academia and industry are not used efficiently, to the detriment of industry and society. Duplication could be reduced, and productivity could be increased, by performing basic biology and clinical proofs of concept within open access industry-academia partnerships.

The major obstacle to clinical validation of new drug targets and the invention of new medicines is the availability and efficient delivery of small-molecules probes in order to understand the basic biology. Provision of these probes will allow for pre-clinical validation of drug targets and reduce the duplication of efforts across the pharmaceutical industry. Failures of potential drug molecules in late stage clinical trials result in enormous cost to the companies involved, the pharmaceutical industry in general and also dashes the hopes of countless patients.

A relatively poor understanding of disease mechanisms, particularly in humans, confounds the drug discovery process and represents a pivotal area of biological research. Potent, selective and cell-permeable chemical probes are valued reagents in both fundamental and applied biological research, and they are essential for preclinical target validation in academic and industrial laboratories.

Strategic alignment of academic synthetic chemists, molecular modellers and structural biologists with industrial end users will provide a blueprint for the provision of open access chemical probes to support clinical validation and drug discovery efforts within the UK.

This programme is a fully integrated network which will deliver the strategic alignment of academic synthetic chemists, molecular modellers and structural biologists with industrial end users to provide a blueprint for the provision of open access chemical probes to support clinical validation and drug discovery efforts within the UK. It will establish an Academia-Users Network in Chemical Biology to initiate, establish and nurture collaborative projects for the advancement of the drug discovery process. It aspires to expand the capability of UK drug discovery, with new drug targets, new tools to validate targets and new multidisciplinary partnerships to explore the platforms, tools and targets of the future.
Key to the success of this programme will be to identify funding mechanisms to deliver the resources necessary to undertake the collaborative ventures identified by the network. Working groups will be established at each interface to enable the realization of potential impact and to ensure the future success of activities initiated within this programme.
The pharmaceutical industry contributes an estimated trade balance surplus of £3.5 billion to the UK economy and is the world's third largest exporter of medicines. This research-driven industry is one of the UK's most dynamic industries and of key importance to the economy. Global spending on prescription drugs was in excess of $643 billion (2006) with emerging markets such as China, Russia, South Korea and Mexico experiencing a colossal 81% increase in expenditure during this period. Despite this huge economic driving force only 26 new drugs were launched worldwide in 2009.
Despite advances in technology and scientific understanding of biological systems, drug discovery is still a lengthy, expensive, difficult and inefficient process with a low rate of new therapeutic discovery. The cost of developing a new drug is estimated to be $1 billion (not including marketing expenses) which has also contributed to a global slowdown in drug development. In 2007 it was estimated that in the USA alone $40 billion of sales was lost by the top ten pharmaceutical companies as a result of slowdown in R&D innovation and the expiry of patents on major products.
The impact of drug development is clear. In order to maintain the UK at the forefront of world research it is essential that drug discovery efforts are underpinned by a scientific community that can provide the appropriate chemical tools, developed to perform basic fundamental biology to clinically validate potential drug targets. The need for innovative medicines acting via novel mechanisms of action to tackle debilitating disease states is essential for human health and well being. The provision and validation of new targets for chronic disease states of interest, including rheumatoid arthritis, metabolic disease, neurological disease, and cancer, will provide a focal point to the activities of this network.