Five novel hit-finding compound libraries targeting the ion channel gene family have been released today by BioFocus DPI. Created using advanced modeling tools, these new libraries are specifically aimed at voltage-dependent and ligand-gated channels, two of the most important and commonly chosen classes of ion channels for drug discovery.

The three new SoftFocus Ion Channel (SFI) libraries target voltage-dependent channels, primarily focusing on sodium and calcium channels to complement BioFocus DPI’s earlier libraries focused on potassium channels. These libraries were designed using BioFocus DPI’s proprietary chemogenomic tool Helical Domain Recognition Analysis.

The two new FieldFocus libraries target members of the transient receptor potential (TRP) channel, including TPRV, TRPM and TRPAs, and were created in collaboration with Cresset BioMolecular’s FieldPrint technology.

The compounds within these five new ion channel libraries have attractive physicochemical properties, making them ideal starting points in hit-to-lead programs. Furthermore, robust synthetic procedures have been developed which will help facilitate rapid hit follow-up. The libraries are part of BioFocus DPI’s commitment to provide an unparalleled service offering in ion channel drug discovery including, in-house state-of-the-art high-throughput ion channel screening.

“Our entire design and synthesis process is driven by the fundamental belief that drug discovery will be more successful by starting with novel molecules designed to selectively interact with distinct gene families,” said Phil Dudfield, VP Discovery Products, BioFocus DPI. “This approach results in the outstanding success that our compound libraries have delivered for our partners’ drug discovery programs.”

More about SFI libraries

SFI libraries are created using BioFocus DPI’s proprietary Helical Domain Recognition Analysis (HDRA) chemogenomic tool. HDRA links X-ray, sequence alignment and SAR data and is used to rationalize scaffold binding in the pore region of ion channels and to guide monomer selection. This design method has proved remarkably successful with the first generation of SoftFocus ion channel libraries (SFI01-04) delivering potent and selective compound series against a variety of ion channel drug targets.

More about FieldFocus libraries

FieldFocus is a ligand centered approach to library design based around molecular fields and is used to target ligand gated ion channels. Cresset’s proprietary FieldPrint technology allows the accurate description of molecules in terms of their surface properties or “fields”. Initial feedback from screening of the first FieldFocus library (FFI01) has shown the effectiveness of this approach.

About BioFocus DPI

As the service business unit for Galapagos NV, an integrated drug discovery company, BioFocus DPI aims to expand our partners’ drug pipelines by accelerating the gene-to-candidate discovery process. We achieve this by offering a biologically-focused discovery platform with three key differentiators:

• target discovery in human primary cells
• hit discovery using focused chemogenomic libraries as well as diverse compound collections
• predictive drug discovery tools.

Through a proprietary adenoviral platform with human full-length cDNA and shRNA constructs, we are able to rapidly identify and validate disease-modifying drug targets. Once a target has been selected, our focused small-molecule libraries, large diversity collection and natural product libraries can be applied to generate hits. These hits can then be further optimized through our predictive drug discovery tools applied in medicinal and computational chemistry as well as through our assay development, high throughput screening, and ADME optimization - thereby progressing our partners’ discovery programs. BioFocus DPI has over 300 employees and operates facilities across Europe and the US. For more information about BioFocus DPI, please visit www.biofocusdpi.com.