Technology
Drug Analysis and Clinical Diagnostics
Speeding Drug Development
The landscape in pharmaceutical drug discovery has changed considerably in the last few years. The huge promise of combinatorial chemistry has faded due to the unexpected low success rates for these randomly designed compounds. Now drug companies are focusing on smaller and more targeted drug libraries. Still the need for high throughput has not abated as there is a strong desire to run more and more tests on these compounds earlier in the lead generation process. Naturally the first criterion for a successful drug is biological activity and high-throughput screens do exist to meet the speed requirements. However, drugs fail for many reasons having to do with their life cycle in the body. These pharmacokinetic properties are often referred to by these specific steps, which include adsorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination (ADME).
Syagen’s technology is an enabling capability for drug discovery ranging from the APPI sources that can sensitively detect and quantify compounds less easily detected by ESI and APCI to the potential to integrate Syagen’s QitTof MS systems to fast chromatography providing the fastest MS/MS and MSn capabilities available today.
Proteomics – The Link between Genomics and Drug Discovery
The goal of drug discovery is to find new molecules that bind with specific proteins in a manner that changes their function for the benefit of life. Studying the entire complement of proteins expressed by a particular cell, organism or tissue at a given time and under a specific set of environmental conditions will require developing new automated and high-speed methods for analyzing the protein content of cell lines. These diagnostics will help make possible an understanding of whole system biological function for improved drug therapy and early detection of disease, such as cancer. A recent National Academy of Sciences symposium “Defining the Mandate of Proteomics in the Post-Genomic Era” highlighted the daunting tasks ahead, clearly articulate that instrumentation is needed that achieves high-throughput and high dynamic range.
Syagen is developing new key MS technology to enhance biomarker searches and for providing automated clinical analysis of key assays for early warning signs of disease and for cases of emergency response such as drug overdoses or other traumatic situations where immediate and accurate diagnostics is essential.
Syagen is using its experiences and successes in developing automated, highly sensitive, accurate, and fast screening systems for security applications and transitioning these capabilities in a similar manner to life sciences applications. Syagen relies on strong collaborative efforts with strategic commercial partners to define the screening protocol and needs required in its new generation of instruments.