Maximizing Efficiency: How High-Throughput Screening Services Drive Drug Discovery
The discovery to commercialization process has always been lengthier for pharmaceuticals and biotechnological companies. The various reasons are research and development, regulatory compliance, intellectual property protection, logistics, and market preparation.
With the evolution and advancements in high-throughput screening technology, it has been able to address some of the major challenges involved in the drug discovery process.
High-Throughput Screening Process:
High-throughput screening is the most advanced technique currently being utilized for drug discovery. This technology allows to scrutinize millions of biochemical activity tests rapidly and simultaneously over a short period of time. This automated screening process enables rapid identification of potential drug candidates, thereby reducing the time and costs associated with traditional methods.
HTS technology is an important part of drug discovery and this tool is being utilized by most CDMO organizations, research institutions, and pharma companies.
The essentials of the HTS system consist of a plate/tray containing small containers for depositing assay reagents and samples, where the reactions are monitored. Over the period of time, the plate configuration has evolved allowing large-scale screening. Assay reagents are either coated onto the plates or deposited in liquid form with test samples into the wells.
Numerous detection methods are utilized in HTS, such as spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, chromatography, calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, microscopy, and radioactive methods. This method offers several advantages, such as high sensitivity, speed, sample minimization, and the ability to detect low background signals. HTS also utilizes automation and large dataset processing to analyze the biological or biochemical activity of various compound libraries.
HTS serves as the most sophisticated tool for various drug discovery programs across medicinal chemistry, ADMET/PK, pharmacology, chemical biology, target identification, target validation, and mechanism of action studies.
The detection techniques deployed in high-throughput screening assays include absorbance, fluorescence intensity, fluorescence resonance energy transfer, time-resolved fluorescence, fluorescence confocal spectroscopy, luminescence, and bioluminescence.
Advantages of High-Throughput Screening:
High-throughput screening assay:
High-throughput screening assay offers multiple advantages in drug discovery, including speeding up the process of finding new drugs, identifying any unintended effects and possible detrimental impacts, incorporating advanced biological analysis techniques. This process ensures exceptional and rapid results, thereby reducing cost and time.
Accelerated Progress in Drug Discovery:
HTS has become the driving force in drug discovery with technological advancements driving the effectiveness and precision of the approach.
Detection of Potential Off-Target Effects and Toxicity:
HTS helps in recognizing potential off-target effects and toxicity of drug candidates, thus enabling researchers to make informed decisions regarding pursued compounds.
Integration of Omics Approaches:
Combining omics approaches like genomics and proteomics into HTS methodologies, this high-tech process has deepened the understanding of biological systems.
Higher Quality and Time Efficiency:
High throughput screening drug discovery process has revolutionized the pharma sector by providing enhanced quality and time efficiency compared to traditional techniques.
Automation:
HTS method deploys automated data processing and control software, microfluidic chip and devices and sensitive detectors. These techniques enable researchers to conduct millions of chemical and biological screening rapidly, reducing assay reagent amounts and saving time to market.
Cost Reduction:
Due to its ability to conduct various tests rapidly, HTS significantly lowers costs and reduces animal usage in drug development and discovery. This process ensures examination of various compounds within a short timeframe.
High-Throughput Screening Challenges:
Complexity of Fragment Library:
Even a small fragment of library in HTS, there are numerous compounds with unique characteristics, and integrating these molecules can lead to overlapping spectral regions, making it hard to differentiate them. Additional characteristics such as experimental error and compound degradation makes it more complex.
Interpretation of Data:
Among a few challenges with HTS technology, one major challenge is interpreting the enormous data being generated by it. High-tech approaches are required to interpret this content-rich data.
Development of Tools and Workflows:
With the above discussed challenges, the need for utilization of high-tech tools and optimized workflows arises. In order to facilitate the workflow and expedite the drug discovery drug, HTS process needs to deploy technologically advanced tools and workflows for efficiently screening vast amounts of libraries, which can add on to the cost.
Conclusion:
High-throughput screening is revolutionizing pharmaceutical development, heralding a new era of highly advanced swift compound screening and accelerating drug discovery time and cost.
High-throughput screening is also being utilized in research across academia and research hospitals. This trend signals a considerable shift towards intensifying the content and quality of chemical and biological testing.
Over the last 20 years high-throughput screening methods have undergone tremendous changes, and have evolved towards miniaturization, standardization, and automation. These developments have laid a robust foundation for continued innovation and offer a glimpse of a more dynamic and impactful future.
