Accelerating pharmaceutical structure-guided drug design: a successful model

• Published in: Drug discovery today 2019-02, Vol.24 (2), p.377-381
• Main Authors: Keefe, Lisa J., Stoll, Vincent S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomedical Research; Crystallography; Drug Design; Drug Industry; Molecular Structure
• ISSN: 1359-6446; 1878-5832
• DOI: 10.1016/j.drudis.2018.11.008

•Quality, reliability, speed, and security ensure success in drug discovery.•Routine, frequent, fast data collection provide cost-effective value to industry.•By partnering, the members of IMCA enable cutting-edge structure-based drug design.•IMCA-CAT drives innovation to advance challenging drug development projects.•IMCA-CAT is distinguished as a world-class synchrotron beamline for drug discovery. The impact and value of structure-based drug design to pharmaceutical discovery across the industry are now undeniable, with many break-through therapies on the market that are structure based in nature. Enabling the structural research is the Industrial Macromolecular Crystallography Association-Collaborative Access Team (IMCA-CAT), formed over 25 years ago as a world-class research facility at the synchrotron at Argonne National Laboratory. What makes IMCA-CAT unique is the strategy of the founding consortium to comprehensively provide for the evolving needs of industry in one facility. This includes year-round high-quality data, capabilities that match target portfolios, throughput and capacity that are never limiting, and unfailing security. Here, we illuminate the unique capabilities offered by IMCA-CAT and instruct how all industrial organizations can access this facility.