Evolving Approaches to Early-Stage Drug Discovery

描述(由申请人提供)：本提案请求支持将于2011年4月3-7日在犹他州雪鸟举办的题为《早期药物发现的进化方法》的Keystone研讨会，该会议由Craig W.Lindsley和Linda Brady组织。这次会议将涉及药物发现科学家面临的挑战和机遇的多个方面，包括：1)在资源有限的环境中进行早期发现的不同方法；2)学术界临床前药物发现的进展；3)NIH分子图书馆探测中心网络(MLPCN)的药物先导和靶标验证的演变；4)资助早期或有风险的计划；5)计划的外部许可；以及6)生物标记物和成像的进展，以支持靶标选择和快速通过/不通过决定。会议的目标是将所有这些领域的专家聚集在一起，提出研究结果，分享当前的理解和假设，并促进对这些主题的批判性讨论。这将是第一次将来自制药业、生物技术、学术界和美国国立卫生研究院的药物发现科学家聚集在一起，每个人都有独特的使命和方法，并提供一个分享各自经验的论坛。此外，通过将这次会议与Keystone研讨会同时举行，跨学科互动的机会将大大增加，会议主题是来自Bugs的药物：明天的抗炎药物。 与公共健康相关：制药业正面临大规模的自然减员、合并以及后期临床试验的失败，同时，学术药物发现小组正在大量涌现，并具有提供药物开发候选药物的前景光明的能力。关于早期药物发现进化方法的Keystone研讨会会议将有助于巩固这一领域，推进早期药物发现的科学，并向生物医学界通报资源，通过采用概念和战略来降低药物发现工作的风险并最大限度地增加成功的机会，从而更快地为困难、高风险的目标开发疗法。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal requests support for a Keystone Symposia meeting entitled Evolving Approaches to Early-Stage Drug Discovery, organized by Craig W. Lindsley and Linda Brady, which will be held in Snowbird, Utah from April 3 - 7, 2011. This meeting will cover multiple aspects of the challenges and opportunities facing drug discovery scientists, including the following: 1) diverse approaches to early stage discovery in a resource- constrained environment; 2) evolution of preclinical drug discovery in academia; 3) evolution of drug leads and target validation from the NIH Molecular Libraries Probe Centers Network (MLPCN); 4) funding early stage or risky programs; 5) external licensing of programs; and 6) advances in biomarkers and imaging to enable target selection and rapid go/no go decisions. The meeting goals are to bring together experts in all of these areas, present findings and share current understanding and hypotheses, and foster critical discussion of these topics. This will be the first meeting to bring together drug discovery scientists from the pharmaceutical industry, biotech, academia, and the NIH - each with unique missions and approaches - and to provide a forum for sharing their respective experiences. Furthermore, opportunities for interdisciplinary interactions will be significantly enhanced by the co-location of this meeting with the Keystone Symposia meeting on Drugs from Bugs: The Anti-Inflammatory Drugs of Tomorrow. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The pharmaceutical industry is facing massive attrition, mergers as well as failures in late clinical trials while, at the same time, academic drug discovery groups are emerging in greater numbers and with promising capabilities to deliver drug development candidates. The Keystone Symposia meeting on Evolving Approaches to Early-Stage Drug Discovery will serve to consolidate the field, advance the science of early stage drug discovery, and inform the biomedical community about resources to more rapidly develop therapeutics for difficult, high-risk targets by employing concepts and strategies to de-risk drug discovery efforts and maximize chances for success.