Drug Discovery: Leveraging Academic Impact Through Novel Fragments

A Dial-a-Molecule EPSRC Grand Challenge theme event

When: 5 February 2013
Where: 3M Buckley Innovation Centre, University of Huddersfield (http://www.3mbic.com/)

The last 10 years have seen a radical restructuring of global pharma R&D in response to the increasingly challenging process of discovering, progressing and launching a new drug. A consequence of this business remodelling has been the tapering of UK synthetic and medicinal chemistry capacity; this offers an opportunity for academic synthetic chemists to generate impact in the drug discovery process, especially in the hit/lead identification phase of the drug pipeline. The 3D Fragment Consortium is an EPSRC-funded network, which aims to expand the chemical space of drug discovery by leveraging novel class-leading academic synthetic chemistry. Access to such cutting-edge synthetic expertise will empower and enable the study of drug target classes previously lacking high quality chemical start points; such as protein-protein interactions. Given the UK strength in chemical synthesis, a chemical consortium focused upon the implementation of powerful synthetic methods would be perfectly placed to design and deliver novel three-dimensional chemical libraries for fragment screening to complement existing fragment libraries. The consortium would also be able to contribute to the generation of useful chemical start points for a broad range of target therapeutic classes.

As part of the Royal Society Year of Science and Industry, and in collaboration with the ‘Dial-a-Molecule’ EPSRC Grand Challenge Network and SMSDrug.net, on 5 February 2013 the 3D Fragment Consortium will host a workshop meeting at which the opportunities and benefits for academic synthetic chemists will be presented. In particular, the workshop will discuss:
•    how class-leading academic synthesis can be used in a drug discovery context
•    the key features of fragment libraries, and their relevance to cutting-edge research groups
•    the tools available to enable synthetic chemists to make contributions to the drug discovery process
•    constructing an inclusive network of med chem-facing academic chemists
•    funding possibilities
•    how to deal with IP issues

The key deliverable of the event will be the creation of a blueprint for successful collaborations between academic chemists and drug-hunting organisations.

Program: