New method has the potential to shorten new drug discovery from months to just hours.
Researchers at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital have developed a new approach, which combines advanced screening techniques with computational modeling, that can significantly shorten the drug discovery process (from months to just hours), potentially transforming the pharmaceutical industry.
The research, published in Science Advances, represents a significant leap forward in drug discovery efficiency. The team, led by Dr. Alex Thorman and his team, utilized a dual-method approach to streamline the identification of promising drug candidates. The first method involved screening a large database of small molecules called the Library of Integrated Network-based Cellular Signatures (LINCS). This database allowed the researchers to evaluate tens of thousands of potential therapeutic compounds at once, identifying those with the most promising biological activity.
They then used targeted docking simulations, an advanced computational technique that models the interaction between small molecules and their specific protein targets. By combining these two approaches, the team was able to rapidly narrow down the list of potential drug candidates, reducing the initial screening process to just a few hours.
The team noted in their article, “Using extensive benchmarking, we show that ceSAR greatly reduces false-positive rates, while cutting run times by multiple orders of magnitude and further democratizing drug discovery pipelines. We further demonstrate[d] the utility of ceSAR by identifying and experimentally validating inhibitors of BCL2A1, an important antiapoptotic target in melanoma and preterm birth–associated inflammation.”
Thorman said this innovative method “not only speeds up the drug discovery timeline but also improves the accuracy of identifying effective compounds.” The improved efficiency could be particularly beneficial in tackling diseases that currently have no cure, including various forms of cancer. The new method’s ability to shorten drug discovery timeframes and its precision is also promising for the development of more targeted therapies so individually tailored treatments can be brought to market, which considers a patient’s genetics, environment, and lifestyle habits. These specific treatments have the potential to be much more effective treatment-wise.
Thorman also said the ability to shorten discovery could be particularly critical to addressing public health crises, such as pandemics. The ability to develop effective treatments more quickly could be a game changer in future global health emergencies, where time is often a critical factor in saving a large number of lives. For instance, this could have been a particularly effective way to identify life-saving interventions during the height of COVID-19, and it may still be for its many variants – both those already identified and any future variants to come.
Shortening drug discovery time can also prove to be especially important in handling emerging infectious diseases by enabling rapid responses to new threats. Drastically shortening the timeframe allows scientists to move quickly in the face of evolving pathogens, which can also come in handy for rare and complex conditions.
As the drug discovery process continues to evolve and advance over time, the method developed by the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital could serve as a model for future research efforts. There is no end to the positive implications identifying and bringing life-saving drugs to market as quickly as possible can have on public health, in general.
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