News

Rising to the challenge - cutting-edge techniques in medicinal chemistry

4 Nov 2015

Drug development is notoriously difficult, time-consuming and expensive - the average time-scale from start to finish exceeds ten years, with likely costs surpassing $1 billion. Part of the reason for this large outlay is the high attrition rate observed in clinical trials. For example, in cancer trials only 5% of agents that have activity in preclinical development are ultimately licensed after demonstrating adequate efficacy in phase III trials. The industry is also facing one of its toughest times due to poor stock performance, lower numbers of drug approvals and poor late stage pipelines.

This backdrop illustrates that there remain many huge challenges for the pharmaceutical industry. The field of medicinal chemistry is integral to the search for solutions for these challenges. Routine techniques must be improved and innovative methods created in order to speed up the drug design process so as to discover safe and novel treatments promptly and efficiently. SCI recognises the requirement constantly to push the frontiers of current knowledge and aims to encourage its members to do likewise.

‘New Approaches in Medicinal Chemistry’ is a one day event on Wednesday 27 January 2016 organised by SCI’s Young Chemists’ Panel. It is held in the inspiring location of GlaxoSmithKline’s Stevenage site, one of the major pharmaceutical research and development centres in the UK.

Experienced speakers from industry and academia will cover a range of pertinent techniques at the leading edge of medicinal chemistry. Topics are diverse and will include consideration of physiochemical properties beyond the rule of five, covalent inhibitors, kinetics, unbiased identification of drug targets, halogen bonding and the use of DNA-encoded chemical libraries.

This symposium is an opportunity for all those involved in the areas of medicinal chemistry and drug discovery to update and extend their knowledge of cutting-edge techniques. It will suit scientists from both academia and industry.

There will be refreshment breaks throughout the day during which attendees will have the opportunity to view posters from fellow delegates. These breaks will also enable valuable networking opportunities for all attendees.

To register for the event, visit the link below or contact the Conference Department at conferences@soci.org or 020 7598 1561.