Protein kinases in drug discovery and development.
The Protein Kinases in Drug Discovery and Development meeting highlighted protein kinases as validated therapeutic targets in many types of disease, especially cancer. Drugs designed to inhibit protein kinase activity were widely tested in preclinical and clinical evaluation, demonstrating significant efficacy with acceptable toxicity profiles. More than 600 kinases are encoded by the human genome, some of which are already well established as validated targets due to extensive scientific research from both academic institutions and industrial companies. As demonstrated by several speakers during the meeting, different diseases exhibit mutations or over-expression of the same kinase. Therefore, a drug designed to inhibit these specific kinases can potentially be used as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of more then one disease. The major strategy employed by most companies today in drug discovery is using genomic information, together with clinical research, to identify novel potential targets. A drug discovery project is then established around the chosen target kinase, in order to identify, optimize and deliver novel potential drugs to clinical trials.
Hadari
Y R
YR
ImClone Systems Inc, 180 Varick Street 6th Floor, New York, NY 10014, USA. yaronh@imclone.com