Phenotypic Drug Discovery

Phenotypic drug discovery has been highlighted in the past decade as an important strategy in the discovery of novel medical entities. This book aims to equip researchers with a thought-provoking guide to the application and development of contemporary phenotypic drug discovery for clinical success.

In the genomic era of 1990s-2000s, pharmaceutical research moved to target-based drug discovery which enabled development of a number of small molecule drugs against a wide range of diseases. In many cases however, drugs that arose from genomics failed, questioning the validity of the targets and the suitability of target-based drug discovery as an optimal strategy for all disease states. For monogenic diseases, target-based approaches may be well-suited to the identification of novel therapies. Most diseases, however, are caused by a combination of several genetic and environmental factors and are likely to require simultaneous modulation of multiple molecular targets/pathways for successful treatment. For such diseases, reductionist approaches focusing on individual targets rather than biological networks are unlikely to succeed and new drug development strategies are required. In search of more successful approaches, the pharmaceutical industry is moving towards phenotypic screening beyond individual genes/targets. However, this requires rethinking of diseases and drug discovery approaches from a network and systems biology perspective. Since returning to the pre-genomics era of screening drug candidates in laborious animal models is not a feasible solution, the industry needs to evolve a new paradigm of phenotypic drug discovery within the context of systems biology. Such a paradigm must combine physiologically and disease relevant biological substrates with sufficient throughput, operational simplicity and statistical vigour. Biomarker strategies for translational medicine, as well as preclinical safety and selectivity assessments, would also need to be revised to adapt to the target agnostic style. This focused issue aims to discuss strategies, key concepts and technologies related to systems-based approaches in drug development. Design and implementation of innovative biological assays, featuring multiple target strategies, and rational drug design in the absence of target knowledge during the early drug discovery are illustrated with examples. Specific topics include: • The need for systems-based approaches in drug development • Phenotypic screening strategies • Compound libraries (natural product inspired compound collections) • Target deconvolution and identification • Target agnostic lead discovery and optimization • Multi-target approaches and decoding the phenotype (understanding biological interactions and multiscale systems modelling) • Translational aspects • Early evaluation of selectivity and safety in a target agnostic manner

Drug discovery involves multiple disciplines, technologies, and approaches. This book selects important topics related to drug discovery, including emerging tool (Chapter 1), cutting-edge approaches (Chapters 2, 3, and 4), examples of specific therapeutic area (Chapter 5), quality control in drug development (Chapter 6), and job and career opportunities in the pharmaceutical sector, a topic rarely covered by other books (Chapter 7). This book draws knowledge from experts actively involved in different areas of drug discovery from both industrial and academic settings. We hope that this book will facilitate your efforts in drug discovery.

This second edition details some of the recent trends in HCS/HCA/HCI. New and updated chapters guide readers through methods that utilize reagents and kits that have been developed to measure cells and subpopulation classifications, control measures, overviews of the data handling issues associated with HCS/HCA/HCI, and methods to implement more complex phenotypic models. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, High Content Screening and Analysis-The Ideal Format for Phenotypic Screening: A Powerful Approach to Systems Cell Biology and Drug Discovery, Second Edition aims to ensure successful results in the further study of this vital field.

Improving and Accelerating Therapeutic Development for Nervous System Disorders is the summary of a workshop convened by the IOM Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders to examine opportunities to accelerate early phases of drug development for nervous system drug discovery. Workshop participants discussed challenges in neuroscience research for enabling faster entry of potential treatments into first-in-human trials, explored how new and emerging tools and technologies may improve the efficiency of research, and considered mechanisms to facilitate a more effective and efficient development pipeline. There are several challenges to the current drug development pipeline for nervous system disorders. The fundamental etiology and pathophysiology of many nervous system disorders are unknown and the brain is inaccessible to study, making it difficult to develop accurate models. Patient heterogeneity is high, disease pathology can occur years to decades before becoming clinically apparent, and diagnostic and treatment biomarkers are lacking. In addition, the lack of validated targets, limitations related to the predictive validity of animal models - the extent to which the model predicts clinical efficacy - and regulatory barriers can also impede translation and drug development for nervous system disorders. Improving and Accelerating Therapeutic Development for Nervous System Disorders identifies avenues for moving directly from cellular models to human trials, minimizing the need for animal models to test efficacy, and discusses the potential benefits and risks of such an approach. This report is a timely discussion of opportunities to improve early drug development with a focus toward preclinical trials.

Drug repurposing or drug repositioning is a new approach to presenting new indications for common commercial and clinically approved existing drugs. For example, chloroquine, an old antimalarial drug, showed promising results for treating COVID-19, interfering with MDR in several types of cancer, and chemosensitizing human leukemic cells.This book focuses on the hypothesis, risk/benefits, and economic impacts of drug repurposing on drug discovery in dermatology, infectious diseases, neurological disorders, cancer, and orphan diseases. It brings together up-to-date research to provide readers with an informative, illustrative, and easy-to-read book useful for students, clinicians, and the pharmaceutical industry.

The first volume of the book series "Successful Drug Discovery" is focusing on new drug discoveries during the last decade, from established drugs to recently introduced drugs of all kinds: small-molecule-, peptide-, and protein-based drugs. The role of serendipity is analyzed in some very successful drugs where the research targets of the lead molecule and the drug are different. Phenotypic and target-based drug discovery approaches are discussed from the viewpoint of pioneer drugs and analogues. This volume gives an excellent overview of insulin analogues including a discussion of the properties of rapid-acting and long-acting formulations of this important hormone. The major part of the book is devoted to case histories of new drug discoveries described by their key inventors. Eight case histories range across many therapeutic fields. The goal of this book series is to help the participants of the drug research community with a reference book series and to support teaching in medicinal chemistry with case histories and review articles of new drugs.

The modern drug developers? guide for making informed choices among the diverse target identification methods Target Discovery and Validation: Methods and Strategies for Drug Discovery offers a hands-on review of the modern technologies for drug target identification and validation. With contributions from noted industry and academic experts, the book addresses the most recent chemical, biological, and computational methods. Additionally, the book highlights techologies that are applicable to ?difficult? targets and drugs directed at multiple targets, including chemoproteomics, activity-based protein profiling, pathway mapping, genome-wide association studies, and array-based profiling. Throughout, the authors highlight a range of diverse approaches, and target validation studies reveal how these methods can support academic and drug discovery scientists in their target discovery and validation research. This resource: -Offers a guide to identifying and validating targets, a key enabling technology without which no new drug development is possible -Presents the information needed for choosing the appropriate assay method from the ever-growing range of available options -Provides practical examples from recent drug development projects, e. g. in kinase inhibitor profiling Written for medicinal chemists, pharmaceutical professionals, biochemists, biotechnology professionals, and pharmaceutical chemists, Target Discovery and Validation explores the current methods for the identification and validation of drug targets in one comrpehensive volume. It also includes numerous practical examples.