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Quantum Pharmaceuticals in drug discovery

New drugs begin in the laboratory with biochemists, biophysicists and other researchers who identify the nature of a disease and its biological markers – usually proteins. Researchers search for drug candidates that act upon these proteins. Once found, the drug candidates undergo preclinical and clinical trials and, if successful, enter the market as new drugs. The following graphic depicts the steps in the drug development process as well as Quantum Pharmaceuticals' role in that process.

1. Target identification. Drugs usually act on proteins in the body known as targets, which are associated with disease. Scientists use a variety of techniques to identify and isolate a target in order to learn more about its functions and influence the disease.

2. Target prioritization/validation. Researchers analyze and compare each drug target to others based on their association with a specific disease and their ability to regulate biological and chemical processes in the body. Tests are conducted to choose the best drug targets and confirm that interactions with theses molecules lead to a desired change in the behavior of diseased cells.

3. Lead identification. A lead compound or substance is one that has the potential to treat disease. In order to identify lead compounds, hundreds of thousands of chemicals are tested by researchers. As a result, a collection of individual molecules that possess properties needed in a new drug is formed.

4. Lead optimization. The main purpose of lead optimization is to use the leads discovered through lead identification to build new leads with optimized properties and select those compounds which have the greatest potential to be developed into safe and effective medicines.

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Related terms: Flexible receptor-ligand docking, molecular modelling docking ligand ligand docking protein ligand docking protein ligand docking software ligand docking software protein ligand docking in drug design docking ligand dock molecular homology modelling sequence alignment