Identifying a Lead Molecule

Drug Discovery and Development

In this course, Dr Matthew Ivory (Cardiff University) discusses the entire process of drug development and discovery. How do scientists go through this journey? We begin by: (i) discussing lead compounds, molecules with some desired biological properties that can potentially be tweaked into drugs; before (ii) looking at how we carry out this tweaking of lead compounds to be taken orally; and the first pre-clinical studies that are carried out on a new drug; and then (iii) looking at how we can design safe drugs to be taken by humans, and the methods of delivery at our disposal; as well as (iv) observing the various human studies carried out and their varied aims and objectives; before finally (v) looking at how drugs mature in the commercial market.

Identifying a Lead Molecule

In the first mini-lecture, we begin the journey of how we develop new drugs by understanding the origin of these compounds. We learn about the term ‘lead molecule’, and where we can find these lead molecules, such as from animals, plants, and indeed other pre-existing molecules. We develop the definition of these lead molecules by distinguishing drugs influenced by other drugs as ‘Me Too’ drugs, such as ibuprofen and naproxen. In addition to this, we move onto defining the chemical space and compound libraries in the context of developing drugs.