Woodridge, IL & Bainbridge Island, WA July 23, 2009 - deCODE chemistry & biostructures www.decodechembio.com) announced publication of an article entitled “Discovery of Leukotriene A4 Hydrolase Inhibitors Using Metabolomics Biased Fragment Crystallography” in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Electronic Publication July 20, 2009). The article describes a novel fragment library termed Fragments of Life™ (FOL) for structure-based drug discovery. The FOL library includes natural small molecules of life, derivatives thereof, and biaryl protein architecture mimetics. The choice of fragments facilitates the interrogation of protein active sites, allosteric binding sites, and protein-protein interaction surfaces for fragment binding. deCODE’s Fragments of Life (FOL) library was screened against Leukotriene A4 Hydrolase (LTA4H) by X-ray crystallography, allowing the discovery of a diverse array of fragments including derivatives of resveratrol, nicotinamide, and indole as efficient ligands for binding and inhibiting LTA4H. These fragments embody key chemical features and binding modes of several reported LTA4H inhibitors. Three of the fragments were elaborated into potent inhibitors of LTA4H representing multiple novel chemotypes for modulating leukotriene biosynthesis.
According to Dr. Doug Davies, Senior Director of Structural Biology at deCODE and first author of the ACS publication, “Fragments of Life is more than just a fragment library, it is a sound approach to identifying key starting point ligand architectures that have high ligand efficiency for binding to the target of interest. Library components not only have high binding efficiency but also exhibit other drug-like properties such as mM solubility characteristics and complimentary surface and shape properties to proteins”.
Also, deCODE biostructures recently announced the signing of the fourth Fragments of Life(FOL) screening campaign for lead discovery. deCODE’s FOL clients include InterMune, Achaogen, UCB and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation.
About deCODE chemistry & biostructures
deCODE chemistry, Inc. & deCODE biostructures, Inc. provide contract research services to pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, academic institutions, and government facilities. deCODE chemistry & biostructures takes a collaborative approach to pharmaceutical research services through a seamless integration of chemistry and biology capabilities including protein production, multifaceted structural studies, lead identification, ex vivo and in vivo assays, cGMP manufacturing and regulatory capabilities which furnishes accelerated timelines for moving molecules from the concept and into the clinic. Visit deCODE chemistry & biostructures on the web at www.decodechembio.com.
