2021 Molecules of the Year: Nominate!

The highly anticipated First Time Disclosures session at the ACS Spring 2024 Meeting in New Orleans, organized by Nicole Goodwin and H. Rachel Lagiakos, presented a variety of new orally available small molecules. In case you missed any of these exciting molecules, from Oric’s CD73 inhibitor to Deciphera’s first-in-class ULK1/2 inhibitor, this article provides the structures and targets for the novel molecules disclosed at the session.

Among the small molecule highlights in January’s news were a $100M+ Series A for a PARP1 + PI3Kα-focused company, clinical data with an SLC inhibitor for PKU, a 5-HT2C superagonist for seizures, and a NK1,3 dual antagonist for women’s health. A novel anti-obesity agent from phenotypic screening also made headlines, and the close of a major acquisition may bring relief to the industry. You can read about these notable scientific highlights and more below.

One of the key challenges in CNS projects is achieving sufficient unbound brain exposure to engage the target. To predict CNS exposure, scientists employ metrics like CNS MPO scores from Pfizer and Merck, Bayesian models, and methods for balancing physicochemical properties. However, these in silico metrics often fail to correlate well with experimental data. Schrödinger's team has discovered the energy of solvation (E-sol) metric, which accurately predicts Kp,uu and has been validated with CNS-penetrant DLK inhibitors. Explore more in this detailed Drug Hunter article.

The impact of small and mid-sized biotech companies has become increasingly important. The shift from large pharma dominance to a biotech-driven era of drug discovery presents challenges to the traditional model of education for emerging medicinal chemists. Industry leader Dean Brown recently highlighted challenges for modern medicinal chemists starting in biotech who face fewer mentoring opportunities and are often propelled into leadership positions sooner than their counterparts in big pharma. Here we share how our team of former industry scientists at Drug Hunter can help.

Gleevec (imatinib) was the first tyrosine kinase inhibitor approved for the treatment of cancer and one of the first products to emerge from "rational drug design."  It's invention changed chronic myeloid leukemia from an incurable death sentence to a manageable disease. Here's a look back on the tremendous value it's created over the last [...]