Small Molecule Drug Discovery

Our experienced team of chemists, biologists and ADME scientists have delivered 21 small molecule candidates to clinic in just 10 years. Data-driven, intellectual input and decision making, sits at the heart of this, along with an adaptable and collaborative project management approach.  

Many clients, such as Pathios Therapeutics, provide testimony to the integral role we play in small molecule drug development:

"We are excited to have nominated a development candidate molecule and move into the next phase of development. There is no doubt that Concept Life Sciences has played an integral part in this journey and to enable this transition.” ‍

— Stuart Hughes, CEO, Pathios Therapeutics

Target validation expertise

We enable the development of disease-modifying therapies by delivering robust target validation across diverse target classes and therapeutic areas. Our tailored approach integrates  customized assay development with a complementary suite of validation techniques to build strong evidence for your biological targets.

This is critical in the early stages of drug discovery when many challenges are faced in understanding target relevance and therapeutic potential. Our scientists can move your project to the next milestone by quickly understanding how your target of interest is implicated in your disease process and where that target is expressed and localized.

Our target validation services include:

• Development of customized assays to investigate target function and therapeutic potential
• Application of cutting-edge genetic and pharmacological tools to confirm target relevance
• Use of advanced model systems to strengthen the translational pathway
  

By combining scientific rigor with deep expertise, we provide the data and insights needed to de-risk your small molecule drug discovery program and enhance the likelihood of clinical success.

Hit generation

Once a target has been identified and validated, our expertise in hit generation enables us to pinpoint validated hit series with a high probability of evolving into potential drug compounds.

We tailor our screening services ensuring the most appropriate the compound library is used for each project. Access to curated libraries makes certain that screens cover a range of testing compounds, which may include natural products, synthetic chemicals (including small fragments), or molecules generated through computational approaches for their biological activity. Our customized approach maximizes the chance for success.

Virtual screening is a cost and time-efficient hit generation strategy maximizing computational power with modelling technologies and artificial intelligence. Vast chemical spaces are searched to rapidly identify novel chemical series and scaffolds to identify novel hits to your biological target.

We have a proven track record of identifying high-quality hits using an array of virtual screening techniques, from established ligand-based models to pioneering machine learning algorithms.

Medium throughput screening of commercial libraries and proprietary client libraries utilize our state-of-the-art screening platforms providing a cost-effective way to uncover hit compounds.

Fragment based drug discovery (FBDD) is a powerful technology which focuses on smaller molecular fragments, typically ranging from 100 to 250 Daltons in size. These are systematically assembled to create larger, more complex molecules with enhanced binding affinity and specificity for the target protein.

At Concept Life Sciences, we successfully apply our FBDD screening services to our clients’ drug discovery projects across multiple biological targets ranging from well characterized bromodomains to complex protein-protein interactions targets.

Our experienced medicinal and computational chemists employ their design skills to architect unique, patent-worthy chemical initiation points. These are grounded in pre-existing publicized ligands to build unique libraries for your project to take advantage of.

Lead identification

As we move our clients’ hits to the lead phase, our experienced discovery scientists rapidly assess several hit clusters in order to identify two or three molecular series that have the best potential to develop into drug-like lead candidates.

Our process includes the interdisciplinary team confirming the nature of the structure-activity relationship (SAR) within the selected hit series for the biological target. In addition, an early assessment of in vitro ADMET properties enables the selection of the most promising leads for optimization.

Our rigorous early assessment of available hits utilizing Accelero Biostructure’s structure-based drug design (SBDD) platform accelerates the SAR optimization process, improving the affinity, selectivity and ADMET properties of your candidates.

Lead optimization

Our experienced cross-disciplinary teams use their expertise to speed up identification of candidates through contracted cycle times and fewer compounds made.

Initially they refine the molecular structures of leads identified to optimize novelty, potency and safety. ADMET properties are tailored to deliver the right balance of exposure, duration and target engagement, whilst minimizing potential off-target effects.

Our team has extensive experience in challenging targets, efficiently synthesizing and testing numerous analogues to explore the structure-activity relationship (SAR). This is designed to identify compounds with the optimal balance of potency, safety, and other desirable pharmacological properties.

Our cross-disciplinary teams are able to call upon advanced techniques such as computer-aided drug design (CADD) and the computational chemistry group. They play a pivotal role in lead optimization by predicting the likely interactions between molecules and their target proteins, thereby guiding the synthesis of novel compounds with improved drug-like characteristics.

Co-located teams drive lead optimization, thorough investigations into the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) properties of candidate compounds.   Industry-leading turnaround times for our Tier 1 assays accelerate this process.

Evaluation of the  pharmacokinetic profile to confirm the lead compounds complete your unique candidate profile, whilst minimizing potential toxicity issues  ensuring that the selected lead compounds have an acceptable safety profile.

Our track record demonstrates advanced understanding of this critical step in drug development, rapidly delivering initial drug candidates, paving the way for further preclinical and clinical evaluations.

Talk with our scientific team to get an in-depth understanding of where we can help you.