Description
This module introduces an overview of the pipeline of drug discovery and explores some themes that cover specific examples of drug discovery stories, techniques used in the analysis of drugs and their targets and the structure of the industry responsible for this process and the challenges that it faces. The module is divided into three themes: ‘Drug Discovery Case Studies’ describes the discovery of selected drugs and targets; inhibitors of protein-protein interactions; enzymes as drug targets; antibiotics and the search for new antibiotic medicines, use of new approaches such as artificial intellegence and PROTAC in drug discovery.
The theme ‘Techniques in Drug Discovery’ explains the use of HPLC, electrophoresis and mass spectrometry, NMR in the investigation of drug molecules , the use of X-ray crystallography, immunochemistry and technology used in the investigation of drugs and drug targets. The theme ‘Pharmaceutical Industry and New Technologies’ describes the structure of large pharma and the small and medium enterprises involved; the challenges faced by the pharma industry; the opportunity for biotechnology and business development; pharma funding, the rise in biopharmaceuticals (eg. hormones, cytokines, monoclonal antibodies and vaccines) and biosimilars that form a major part of new therapeutic technology.
Module deliveries for 2024/25 academic year
Last updated
This module description was last updated on 19th August 2024.
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