Medicinal
Chemistry

Our multidisciplinary team of chemists and biologists work closely with customers to design, synthesize and optimize compounds for targets and assays, leading to rapid identification of potential drug candidates. We have a strong track record in successfully driving several pharmaceutical hit-to-lead projects in the therapeutic areas of Oncology, Fibrosis, Pain, Inflammation, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases. As responsive and reliable partners, customers view us as an extension of their R&D teams, augmenting in-house expertise and capabilities.

Hit Generation & Validation

Aragen medicinal chemists use high-throughput screening and literature analysis to identify valuable starting points for discovery programs. Our capabilities include:

• Computational design hypothesis
• Landscape analysis for patentability and chemotype selection
• DNA-encoded library analysis
• Focused library generation
• Validation of primary hits and chemical series prioritization
• In vitro and primary ADME assays

Hit-to-Lead Identification

With evaluations, gap analyses and corrections to the identified hit series, we focus on identifying promising lead compounds through:

• Robustness checks of in silico models
• SAR analyses
• In vitro and in vivo assays
• ADME assays

Lead Optimization

Further optimizations address structure activity relationship (SAR) and structure property relationship (SPR) evaluation criteria to provide customers with a suitable preclinical candidate. Capabilities at this stage include:

• Optimization of the lead molecule for potency and efficacy
• In vivo efficacy studies
• Scale-up support for efficacy and toxicity studies
• Preformulation studies