DrugBank–An Internet Source for Drug Information
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by John Proudfoot
DrugBank–An Internet Source for Drug Information
by John Proudfoot
The rapid evolution of the worldwide web has provided general access, unimagined even a decade ago, to information of many kinds. As a medicinal chemist involved in drug discovery, I have seen access to the basic information of drug discovery—drug structures, drug effects, and drug targets—evolve from print-only format (comprehensive but difficult to update) to proprietary computer databases (easily searchable but expensive and with no public availability) to the current situation where a surprising amount of sophisticated information is freely available via the internet. This article is intended to draw attention to one particularly useful source of information, Drugbank1 <http://redpoll.pharmacy.ualberta.ca/drugbank/>, which was designed and created by Dr. Wishar and his colleagues at the University of Alberta. This free resource pulls together a surprisingly comprehensive amount of information on drugs and drug targets and contains data on over 1 000 marketed and over 3 000 additional experimental drug substances.
The Drugbank homepage (above) displays links to multiple search options, Browse, PharmaBrowse,,
DrugCards (accessible via the Browse function) provide drug-related information, including indication, pharmacology, and mechanism of action. Active hyperlinks to the FDA label and other information may also be available. The DrugCard also gives information on the drug target, including function, and protein sequence information, along with hyperlinks to the 3D PDB structure and polymorph information where available.
The PharmaBrowse function allows users to view drugs grouped by indication and the Data Extractor allows users to search over various combinations of database fields. The Download feature allows users to save structure files, DrugCards, protein sequence, and DNA sequence data.
I became aware of the Drugbank database while working on project 2004-025-1-700, which was initiated in 2005 within Division VII with the objective of providing a compendium of drug and drug target information for the top 100 drugs. As work on the project proceeded, it was clear that our envisioned product was already outstripped by information sources such as Drugbank that were available on the world wide web, and the project was recently terminated.
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the hard work of the project contributors, Janos Fischer, Stefan Jaroch, Susan Dana Jones, Michael Liebman, and Erika Alapi, Attila Szemzo, Mark Samuels, and Tom Perun.
http://redpoll.pharmacy.ualberta.ca/drugbank
Dr. John Proudfoot <jproudfo@rdg.boehringer-ingelheim.com> is distinguished scientist with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., in Ridgefield, Connecticut, USA. He is a member of the Subcommittee on Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development of the IUPAC Chemistry and Human Health Division.
Reference
1. Wishart, D. S.; Knox, C.; Guo, A. C.; Shrivastava, S.; Hassanali, M.; Stothard, P.; Chang, Z.; Woolsey, J. DrugBank: a comprehensive resource for in silico drug discovery and exploration. Nucleic Acids Research. 2006, 34, D668-72.S
Page last modified 15 June 2007.
Copyright © 2003-2007 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.
Questions regarding the website, please contact edit.ci@iupac.org
DrugBank–An Internet Source for Drug Information
Free Information Resources for Chemists, Part 2–Update
This is an update to the Internet Connection that appeared on page 29 of the Sep-Oct 2006 CI.
Protein Explorer is a derivative of Rasmol, rather than an update as previously stated: Rasmol itself and OpenRasMol (an open-source version) can be found at <http://OpenRasMol.org>. Not mentioned in Part 2 is Jmol (not JMol), a Java-based, open-source, interactive web browser applet, available at <www.jmol.org>, for molecular display. Jmol is currently under very active development as a promising successor to Chime and a list of websites using Jmol may be found at <http://wiki.jmol.org/index.php/Websites_Using_Jmol>. The base site for the World Index of Molecular Visualization resources can be found at <www.molvisindex.org>. This URL transfers your browser to <http://molvis.sdsc.edu/visres/index.html>.
Dr. Angel Herraez of Universidad de Alcala, Spain, provided this useful information to Leslie Glaser.
Page last modified 15 June 2007.
Copyright © 2003-2007 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.
Questions regarding the website, please contact edit.ci@iupac.org
© 2014 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co.
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- IUPAC Web Developments
- Ethics and Science on Stage
- A Stamp Your Crystallographer Would Like
- The Role of ICCA and SAICM
- Assuring Quality of Analytical Measurement Results: The IUPAC Role
- IUPAC Council Round Table Discussions
- Margaret Brimble Wins Major International Award
- RSC Publishing Launches Project Prospect
- IUPAC Prize for Young Chemists
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Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- From the Editor
- Contents
- IUPAC Web Developments
- Ethics and Science on Stage
- A Stamp Your Crystallographer Would Like
- The Role of ICCA and SAICM
- Assuring Quality of Analytical Measurement Results: The IUPAC Role
- IUPAC Council Round Table Discussions
- Margaret Brimble Wins Major International Award
- RSC Publishing Launches Project Prospect
- IUPAC Prize for Young Chemists
- DrugBank–An Internet Source for Drug Information
- Glossary of Terms Related to Kinetics, Thermodynamics and Mechanisms of Polymerization
- Glossary of Terms Related to Solubility
- Graphical Representation Standards for Chemical Structure Diagrams
- Structure-Based Nomenclature for Cyclic Macromolecules
- Further Conventions for NMR Chemical Shifts
- Biorefineries–Industrial Processes and Products: Status Quo and Future Directions
- Combining and Reporting Analytical Results
- Macromolecular Symposia–recent volumes
- Developments and Applications in Solubility
- Radical Polymerization – Kinetics and Mechanism
- Advanced Polymers for Emerging Technologies
- Green Chemistry
- Occupational Health and Safety Management in East Africa
- Asian Chemistry Education 30-31 July 2007, Taipei, Taiwan
- Emerging Chemical Regulatory Environment World Chemistry Leadership Meeting, IUPAC 2007 General Assembly 10 August 2007, Torino, Italy
- MacroMolecular Complexes 27–31 August 2007, Fukuoka, Japan
- Mendeleev Congress 23–28 September, Moscow, Russia
- Physical Organic Chemistry 30 September–5 October 2007, Córdoba, Argentina
- Food Security in Africa 2–5 December 2007, Stellenbosch, South Africa
- Space Research 13–20 July 2008, Montreal, Canada
- Mark Your Calendar
