CCDC and InhibOx create drug discovery service
Offers cloud computing and software-as-a-service to offer on-demand lead identification services
InhibOx of Oxford, UK and the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) are offering pharmaceutical, biotech and governmental research organisations access to new capabilities to accelerate drug discovery and improve productivity with a new drug discovery service. It includes computer-aided drug discovery (CADD) from receptor site modelling, through lead identification, optimisation and ADME property prediction to formulation modelling.
The partners say the service offers life science companies a step-change in the quality and effectiveness of CADD services through the use of proprietary technologies and databases, applied by scientists with extensive drug discovery experience.
The CCDC, established in 1965, supports drug discovery through its Cambridge Structural Database (CSD), which contains more than half a million small molecule crystal structures, and through knowledge-based tools to support receptor modelling, ligand design, docking, lead optimisation and formulation studies. Its database and modelling systems are in use at research operations worldwide, including at all of the world's top pharmaceutical companies.
InhibOx, founded in 2001, has developed Scopius, which it says is the world's largest curated database of drug candidate molecules. Scopius offers multiple-conformation 3D structures, shape and charge descriptors, physical and ADME properties and commercial availability information.
The firm has also developed proprietary drug discovery technologies to support target- and ligand-based lead identification, fragment-based de novo design methods and formulation modelling. It is pioneering the use of cloud computing and software-as-a-service delivery methods to offer on-demand lead identification and optimisation services, which have demonstrated dramatically improved results over traditional HTS and virtual screening methods.
The two bodies have set up a joint team to commercialise and support the new service and will share operating expenses and revenues. Sales and service operations are out of Oxford and Cambridge, UK, and Princeton, NJ, US.
The two organisations will also collaborate on the development of new approaches to bring scientific breakthroughs and productivity benefits to all aspects of computer-aided drug discovery.
‘We have been asked more frequently by our users whether we can bring to bear our in-house drug discovery experience to address their research challenges,’ said Dr Colin Groom, executive director at CCDC. ‘The alliance with InhibOx gives us the breadth of technology and a focused team to meet this demand.’
‘The timing could not be better,’ added Paul Davie, ceo of InhibOx. ‘This partnership gives the industry what it really needs – a full spectrum, best of breed service offering, delivered by a team with real world drug design and development experience.’
