Lead Optimisation

At Domainex we understand and follow the ‘every compound counts’ philosophy to maximise the efficiency with which we deliver drug candidate(s) from your lead series.

This means that we carefully design and then thoroughly test each compound that we make, with the aim of simultaneously optimising all aspects of the target product profile (TPP). By doing this, your drug candidate will be delivered with the smallest number of iterations possible, saving you both time and money.

Holistic Design Approach

In the ‘every compound counts’ approach, we place as much emphasis on gaining the right pharmacokinetic and physicochemical profile as on maximising potency and selectivity. This holistic design approach requires the expertise of our experienced ‘drug hunters’ working with a suite of molecular design software, including tools for the analysis of drug-target binding, and for the prediction of physical and pharmacokinetic properties. Their understanding of the relationships between chemical structure, molecular properties, and ultimately biological and physical behaviour is crucial to driving success on your behalf.

Efficiency and Speed

We minimise the time taken for each ‘design-make-test-analyse’ cycle, and when our client elects to have all this work done by Domainex, we aim to complete each of these cycles within 10-15 working days. Our experienced medicinal chemists, working in well-equipped laboratories, can tackle quickly a wide range of synthetic challenges, whether classical heterocyclic chemistry or state-of-the-art photo-redox reactions.

Full In Vitro Profiling Services

Domainex biologists use a suite of biochemical, biophysical, and cellular assays to pharmacologically characterise new compounds with respect to the TPP, and we can simultaneously use structural biology to understand the interaction of compounds with the drug target at the molecular level. Physicochemical, metabolic stability and permeability assays are used to complete the in vitro profiling; and when compounds are suitable for progression into in vivo pharmacokinetic and efficacy studies, we arrange this with our partner organisations that specialise in these areas.

Our case studies on the drug targets IKK-epsilon, Der p1 and Tankyrase are just a few examples of how the ‘every compound counts’ approach has quickly and cost-effectively delivered drug candidates.