IN THE DIRECTION OF DRUG DISCOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT

                     

In the domain of Pharmaceutical chemistry, biotechnology and medicine, Drug discovery can be defined as an approach to discover new medications or candidate medications. In early days these medications and drugs were identified by discovering the active ingredient with the help of traditional remedies. In history drugs were nothing but the plant extracts, minerals and materials of animal origin.

The process of drug discovery involves a melding of many disciplines and interests, transcending the relatively simple process of identifying an active compound in the test tube. The discovery of a novel chemical entity that modulates some aspect of cell or tissue function is but the first step in the drug development process. Once shown to be selective and efficacious, a compound must also be relatively free of toxicity, bioavailable, and marketable before it can be considered as a therapeutic entity. In the last decade, dramatic changes have occurred in the way in which drugs are discovered and developed. Federal legislation, primarily related to human safety issues, has made the process of introducing a drug a more time consuming and costly enterprise with a concomitant reduction in patent protection. Increased costs are resulting from marked changes in the world economy. Thus, there is an increase in the actual costs of the research and development process, and this is ultimately reflected in the increased cost of the end product to the consumer.

20th World Conference on Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Drug Design is going to be held in Dubai during September 03-05, 2018, under the enclosed title “Drug designing and Drug target Discovery”. Changes in the basic sciences have also altered the process of drug discovery. Most notable are the major technological advances in which recombinant DNA and monoclonal antibody production have attracted much interest. Another factor that has influenced the nature of drug discovery is the existence of endogenous substances that mimic the actions of existing drugs. The enkephalins and endorphins are one such class of compounds and the search continues for the endogenous mediator(s) of anxiety. The actual technical and conceptual aspects of the drug discovery process have also undergone revision, because of both initiatives within the pharmaceutical industry itself and the economic factors that govern the present climate of academic research. The former, to some extent, was prompted by the realization that the likelihood of the serendipitous discovery of major drugs such as chlorpromazine and the benzodiazepines could not be guaranteed or expected to create a basis for capital investment. The success of the beta-adrenoceptor blocker, propranolol, the histamine-2 receptor blocker, cimetidine and the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, captopril, is evidence that a more rational, mechanistic approach to drug discovery can significantly contribute to the development of therapeutic entities. This approach has many positive aspects.

Drug discovery, despite much intellectual rationalization, is still very much dependent on serendipity. The success associated with the mechanistic approach has, however, made pharmaceutical companies, even the smallest, acutely aware of the fact that to be too far distant from the" cutting edge" of science is to limit their chances of competing successfully in the marketplace. Thus, many drug companies are expanding their R & D operations such that their expertise and potential for innovation is on a par with that of the best academic institutes.

For further details visit https://drug-chemistry.pharmaceuticalconferences.com/