Medicinal Chemistry in Drug Discovery & Development, India

doi:10.1515/ci-2024-0218

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Medicinal Chemistry in Drug Discovery & Development, India

Published/Copyright: April 2, 2024

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From the journal Chemistry International Volume 46 Issue 2

A new project of the Chemistry and Human Health Division supports the objective of the Medicinal Chemistry/Drug Discovery & Development India (MCADDI), which is to build and optimize a basic drug discovery & development course for industrial and academic scientists, including medicinal chemists, in India and other South Asian countries. The success of the 2019 program, partly supported by a IUPAC grant, and the feedback from the Industry and Academic groups, post COVID break of 4 years, strongly encourages the task group to continue our theme of applied chemistry education in relation to drug design and development. Biocon Academy (Bangalore, India) has generously agreed to host this event again in 2024 and will provide the access to their facility for the faculty and attendees. This 5-day course will broaden the focus of the program compared to the 2019 Course by adding new lectures on the use of special chemistry topics such as Heterocyclic and Fluorine Chemistry in Drug Discovery, and adding a lecture on antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) discovery and development.

The first part session of the course will be focused on the fundamentals of drug discovery and the second part will be focused on the application of new technologies in the drug discovery and development process. The 2024 program will dedicate a full day session to the discovery and development of biologic drugs, including antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates and therapeutic proteins. The increase in medicinal chemistry employment in Indian and southeast Asian pharmaceutical companies, and in Contract Research Organizations (CROs) collaborating with US and European companies, has created a vital need for chemists to acquire state of the art knowledge of medicinal chemistry and other closely related disciplines.

The performance and value of the MCADDI courses (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019) has been assessed by the participants and faculty, and has received positive feedback from both industrial and academic scientist in India. The 2024 course will also be assessed to determine whether to continue in the same format, or evolve the course further in order to meet the needs of Indian and Southeast Asian medicinal chemists. The desired outcome will be to enroll a new and broader set of drug discovery scientists from industry and academia. The number of participants would be about 100-120 from academia and industry, similar to the attendance in 2019, and the goal is to provide participants with a strong introduction to the fundamentals and practice of medicinal chemistry in drug discovery, including the use of tools such as computer-assisted drug design (CADD) and automated synthesis. The task group is planning to actively seek the participation of scientists from other South Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa, etc.

For more information and comment, contact Task Group Chair Neel Balu Balasubramanian or William J. Greenlee https://iupac.org/project/2023-033-2-700

Published Online: 2024-04-02

Published in Print: 2024-04-01

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