SAB NewsRational Drug Design Is NovelPosted 10/20/2003 Recent advances in molecular biology have aided pharmaceutical companies in identifying a wide variety of promising targets. However, synthesizing compounds that can regulate these targets, thereby treating a disease, can take many years and millions of dollars. Computer-aided drug design and molecular modeling have helped in this process. In combination with high-throughput screening (HTS), this rational drug design approach has been reengineering the drug discovery process. Members of The Science Advisory Board believe that the major advantage of rational drug design is that it can identify drugs that would not otherwise be discovered. Of the 1613 respondents to a recent Instant Poll, 45% state that this key benefit would not be realized using more conventional drug discovery technologies. The remaining participants were split between thinking that rational drug design would shorten the length of the discovery process and be more cost effective. |
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