The main targeted readers are medicinal chemists, and undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in drug discovery. Since it not only traces the drug discovery process from idea to marketed drug with a detailed explanation of the application of modern drug design principles and discovery technologies, but also showcases the importance of cross‐disciplinary applications of knowledge from different fields such as computer science and statistics, Contemporary Accounts in Drug Discovery and Development essentially will be beneficial to any scientist involved in the drug discovery process. It is also designed to be used as a textbook in a medicinal chemistry class. The book has 15 chapters and fits one full semester. With the comprehensive information included in each independent chapter, it is also suitable for professional seminars or courses that relate to drug design. Some of the drug discovery stories collected in this book are popular and life‐saving medications, so it will be of interest to the public who want to learn more about how these drugs are discovered.
Editing a scientific book is not an easy process; it took more than three years from the conception of the book, author recruiting, and chapter editing to the publication of the book. During this long process, there are many friends and colleagues who helped to make it possible. We would like to thank our editor, Jonathan Rose, for initiating the process, giving us the opportunity, and trusting us in editing Contemporary Accounts in Drug Discovery and Development. We also want to thank Wiley Managing Editor Dr. Andreas Sendtko for his role as a consistent point of contact both during the writing phase and right through to publication. His support has made the book‐editing process run very smoothly. We would also like to thank all the authors who dedicated their time to contribute the chapters and their respective companies for permission to publish their work. Without their unselfish contributions, especially during an unprecedentedly difficult period of the COVID‐19 pandemic, it is almost impossible to accomplish such a daunting job. We salute them for their time, effort, persistence, and dedication. We continue to believe that all the chapters will have a very important impact on future drug discovery programs and benefit future scientists of this field for generations to come. We would like to thank the reviewers of our book proposal for their valuable suggestions and critiques. We would like to thank Dr. Wen‐Lian Wu for his inputs/comments on the Alzheimer's disease chapter and Dr. Shuangping Shi for her expert comments on Appendix A. Xianhai is indebted to his wife Dr. Hongmei Li and his children Alexander and Angelina for their support and understanding. Bob would like to thank his wife Antoinette and his family for their encouragement and support over the years. Wayne is also grateful to the infinite support from his family.
The road to the discovery and development of life‐saving drugs is not and will never be easy and straightforward. With scientific advancements, technological innovations, close collaborations and knowledge sharing, and the lifetime dedication of pharmaceutical scientists and academic medical researchers, it is possible to improve the efficiency of drug discovery and development to deliver the therapies that will alleviate suffering and extend lives. We hope that this book can serve as a small stepping stone in this complex process and help the readers to contribute to the improvement of the health of humanity.
New Jersey, February 2022
Xianhai Huang Robert G. Aslanian Wayne H. Tang
List of Contributors
Robert Abel Drug Discovery Group Schrödinger Inc. New York USA
Robert Aslanian Department of Chemistry New Jersey City University Jersey City USA
Corina Becker Research & Development, Pharmaceuticals Bayer AG Wuppertal Germany
Andrea Bortolato Research and Development, Computer‐Assisted Drug Design, Molecular Discovery Technologies Bristol Myers Squibb Princeton USA
David Yu‐Kai Chen Department of Chemistry Seoul National University Seoul South Korea
Yun Ding Encoded Library Technologies/NCE Molecular Discovery GSK Cambridge USA
Wu Du Hinova Pharmaceuticals Inc. Chengdu People’s Republic of China
Markus Follmann Research & Development, Pharmaceuticals Bayer AG Wuppertal Germany
Jeffrey J. Hale Associate Vice President Discovery Chemistry Merck & Co., Inc. West Point USA
Amy Han R&D Chemistry, Therapeutic Proteins Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Tarrytown USA
Junliang Hao Discovery Chemistry Research and Technologies Lilly Research Laboratory Eli Lilly and Company Lilly Corporate Center Indianapolis USA
Timothy P. Heffron Discovery Chemistry Genentech, Inc. South San Francisco USA
Xianhai Huang Discovery Chemistry InventisBio Co., Ltd. Florham Park USA Wenping Li Translational Imaging Merck Research Laboratories West Point USA
Jonathan S. Mason Sosei Heptares Steinmetz Building Granta Park Cambridge UK
Lothar Roessig Research & Development, Pharmaceuticals Bayer AG Wuppertal Germany
Laurent Salphati Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics Genentech, Inc. South San Francisco USA
Peter Sandner Research & Development, Pharmaceuticals Bayer AG Wuppertal Germany
Tomi Sawyer Maestro Therapeutics Southborough USA
Sarah K. Scott Encoded Library Technologies/NCE Molecular Discovery GSK Cambridge USA
Hong C. Shen Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Therapeutic Modalities Roche Innovation Center Shanghai Shanghai People’s Republic of China
Steven T. Staben Discovery Chemistry Genentech, Inc. South San Francisco USA
Johannes‐Peter Stasch Research & Development, Pharmaceuticals Bayer AG Wuppertal Germany
Wayne Haifeng Tang Drug Discovery Group Schrödinger Inc. New York USA
Ling Tong Discovery Chemistry Merck Research Laboratories Kenilworth USA
Song Yang Department of Medicinal Chemistry Therapeutic Modalities Roche Innovation Center Shanghai Shanghai People’s Republic of China
Hongying Yun Department of Medicinal Chemistry Therapeutic Modalities Roche Innovation Center Shanghai Shanghai People’s Republic of China
Wei Zhu Department of Medicinal Chemistry Therapeutic Modalities Roche Innovation Center Shanghai Shanghai People’s Republic of China
Ning Zou R&D Chemistry, Therapeutic Proteins Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Tarrytown USA
1 Current Drug Discovery: Great Challenges and Great Opportunity (an Introduction to Contemporary Accounts in Drug Discovery and Development )
Jeffrey J. Hale
Discovery Chemistry, Merck & Co., Inc., 770 Sumneytown Pike, PA 19486‐004, West Point, PA, USA
As we approach the end of the second decade of the twenty‐first century, global human health faces significant challenges. In May 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that more than half of recent deaths worldwide were attributable to 10 major causes [1]. Mortality following from cardiovascular disorders, such as ischemic heart disease and stroke, figured prominently on that list, while conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, dementias, and diabetes were noted to have increased in frequency since 2000. While the prevalence of deaths from non‐communicable diseases may be perceived to be of greater concern in high‐income countries, the WHO