From its origins as a niche technique more than 15 years ago, fragment-based approaches have become a major tool for drug and ligand discovery, often yielding results where other methods have failed. Written by the pioneers in the field, this book provides a comprehensive overview of current methods and applications of fragment-based discovery, as well as an outlook on where the field is headed. The first part discusses basic considerations of when to use fragment-based methods, how to select targets, and how to build libraries in the chemical fragment space. The second part describes established, novel and emerging methods for fragment screening, including empirical as well as computational approaches. Special cases of fragment-based screening, e. g. for complex target systems and for covalent inhibitors are also discussed. The third part presents several case studies from recent and on-going drug discovery projects for a variety of target classes, from kinases and phosphatases to targeting protein-protein interaction and epigenetic targets.

Fragment-based drug discovery is a rapidly evolving area of research, which has recently seen new applications in areas such as epigenetics, GPCRs and the identification of novel allosteric binding pockets. The first fragment-derived drug was recently approved for the treatment of melanoma. It is hoped that this approval is just the beginning of the many drugs yet to be discovered using this fascinating technique. This book is written from a Chemist's perspective and comprehensively assesses the impact of fragment-based drug discovery on a wide variety of areas of medicinal chemistry. It will prove to be an invaluable resource for medicinal chemists working in academia and industry, as well as anyone interested in novel drug discovery techniques.

This first systematic summary of the impact of fragment-based approaches on the drug development process provides essential information that was previously unavailable. Adopting a practice-oriented approach, this represents a book by professionals for professionals, tailor-made for drug developers in the pharma and biotech sector who need to keep up-to-date on the latest technologies and strategies in pharmaceutical ligand design. The book is clearly divided into three sections on ligand design, spectroscopic techniques, and screening and drug discovery, backed by numerous case studies.

Introduction to Fragment-Based Drug Discovery, by Daniel A. Erlanson Fragment Screening Using X-Ray Crystallography, by Thomas G. Davies and Ian J. Tickle Hsp90 Inhibitors and Drugs from Fragment and Virtual Screening, by Stephen Roughley, Lisa Wright, Paul Brough, Andrew Massey and Roderick E. Hubbard Combining NMR and X-ray Crystallography in Fragment-Based Drug Discovery: Discovery of Highly Potent and Selective BACE-1 Inhibitors, by Daniel F. Wyss, Yu-Sen Wang, Hugh L. Eaton, Corey Strickland, Johannes H. Voigt, Zhaoning Zhu and Andrew W. Stamford Combining Biophysical Screening and X-Ray Crystallography for Fragment-Based Drug Discovery, by Michael Hennig, Armin Ruf and Walter Huber Targeting Protein–Protein Interactions and Fragment-Based Drug Discovery, by Eugene Valkov, Tim Sharpe, May Marsh, Sandra Greive and Marko Hyvönen Fragment Screening and HIV Therapeutics, by Joseph D. Bauman, Disha Patel and Eddy Arnold Fragment-Based Approaches and Computer-Aided Drug Discovery, by Didier Rognan

With the most comprehensive and up-to-date overview of structure-based drug discovery covering both experimental and computational approaches, Structural Biology in Drug Discovery: Methods, Techniques, and Practices describes principles, methods, applications, and emerging paradigms of structural biology as a tool for more efficient drug development. Coverage includes successful examples, academic and industry insights, novel concepts, and advances in a rapidly evolving field. The combined chapters, by authors writing from the frontlines of structural biology and drug discovery, give readers a valuable reference and resource that: Presents the benefits, limitations, and potentiality of major techniques in the field such as X-ray crystallography, NMR, neutron crystallography, cryo-EM, mass spectrometry and other biophysical techniques, and computational structural biology Includes detailed chapters on druggability, allostery, complementary use of thermodynamic and kinetic information, and powerful approaches such as structural chemogenomics and fragment-based drug design Emphasizes the need for the in-depth biophysical characterization of protein targets as well as of therapeutic proteins, and for a thorough quality assessment of experimental structures Illustrates advances in the field of established therapeutic targets like kinases, serine proteinases, GPCRs, and epigenetic proteins, and of more challenging ones like protein-protein interactions and intrinsically disordered proteins

Drug discovery involves multiple disciplines, technologies, and approaches. This book selects important topics related to drug discovery, including emerging tool (Chapter 1), cutting-edge approaches (Chapters 2, 3, and 4), examples of specific therapeutic area (Chapter 5), quality control in drug development (Chapter 6), and job and career opportunities in the pharmaceutical sector, a topic rarely covered by other books (Chapter 7). This book draws knowledge from experts actively involved in different areas of drug discovery from both industrial and academic settings. We hope that this book will facilitate your efforts in drug discovery.

This book provides a complete snapshot of various experimental approaches to structure-based and ligand-based drug design and is illustrated with more than 200 images.