ChemNavigator.com To Speed Research Process, Significantly Reduce Costs; New iResearch Site Levels Drug Discovery Playing Field
SAN DIEGO--(BW HealthWire)--March 7, 2000--ChemNavigator.com Inc. (www.chemnavigator.com) is creating the largest searchable database of chemical compounds in the world.
From the Web site, scientists can locate compounds for the drug discovery phase of research by sketching a portion of the chemical structure, then purchasing individual compounds in small quantities.
"ChemNavigator.com could cut months or even years off the drug discovery process for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies," said Scott Hutton, president of ChemNavigator.com Inc. "Our breakthrough model introduces a new level of productivity and efficiency that could significantly increase the number of industry players and the pace of discoveries by an order of magnitude."
ChemNavigator.com has created a proprietary searching technology that rips apart each of the compounds in the database and analyzes their structural similarity to the compound drawn by the scientist. In a few seconds the scientist can look at many different compounds that fit their specific research criteria.
Lead optimization is one of the longest stages in drug discovery and development. This is in part because of the difficulty in securing compounds. Once a scientist has discovered a compound that has a positive effect, he or she must optimize the lead, which means testing similar chemicals that have the same positive effect, but without the negative side effects.
To get those similar compounds, scientists often spend tens of thousands of dollars to contract custom synthesis of small chemical libraries from chemistry supply companies. Or they may build the compounds from scratch, which takes about three months and three thousand dollars per compound. Through ChemNavigator.com, scientists can buy inexpensive, individual compounds based on chemical structure and have the shipment arrive at the lab in as little as one week.
"The process of taking hits from initial screening into lead development can be very frustrating to the scientist," said Tad Hurst, Ph.D., vice president and chief technical officer of ChemNavigator.com. "The number of hits from screening often exceeds the capacity for lead optimization, so arbitrary decisions are often made regarding follow up. ChemNavigator.com solves this problem allowing the researcher to quickly qualify the hits before engaging in analog synthesis."
Purity levels, molecular weight and solubility all factor into the decision to test a chemical compound. The site will save the scientist's research parameters for each return visit.
ChemNavigator.com has partnered with three of the leading chemistry companies, Trega Biosciences Inc. (Nasdaq:TRGA), Tripos Inc. (Nasdaq:TRPS) and Nanoscale Combinatorial Synthesis Inc. (NANOSYN) to supply and ship the chemicals. Today the chemical library called the iResearch System Library has more than 300,000 compounds, and by September, ChemNavigator.com estimates that its chemical library will contain about one million compounds. The company plans to incorporate additional information about each of the compounds into the site, such as related patents and research papers.
"It already takes an average of 12 years and $500 million to bring a drug to the market," said Hutton. "What's it worth to drug development organizations to get their product to market months faster than their competition? What's it worth to the patients to receive a beneficial drug months earlier than before?"
ChemNavigator.com's introduction coincides with the financial markets' renewed interest in biotechnology stocks, high-tech drugs and medical products. The new company is ideally suited to spur growth across all these sectors by enabling scientists to move their research forward in a significantly more efficient way.
"We're introducing technical expertise that helps scientists streamline existing processes in a way that's never before been possible," said Hurst. "This is a totally new way to manage information in this space."
About ChemNavigator.com
Founded in 1999, ChemNavigator.com Inc. (www.chemnavigator.com) provides scientists with a secure environment for searching for and purchasing drug-like compounds for screening and lead follow-up. The company is located in San Diego.
--30--jf/sd* sf/sd
CONTACT:
ChemNavigator.com
Noel M. Wheeler, 858/450-9740, Ext. 322
nwheeler@chemnavigator.com
Or
The Gable Group
Liz Deakin or Frank Bantle, 619/234-1300
liz@gablegroup.com
frank@gablegroup.com |
