way towards superior knowledge-driven drug discovery processes,
supporting both our proprietary and partnered programmes.
Success in drug discovery and development is critically dependent upon operational excellence and effective decision making. This process requires experimental results of the highest quality coupled with the most efficient technological solutions. Outside the Discovery Programs Division, R&D activ- ities in 2003 have focused on the extension of Evotec OAI’s portfolio of prod- ucts and services and the further development of decision support tools that aid our scientists to successfully meet the objectives of our clients.
New ADMET assays handed over to operations. ADMET profiling is being used
earlier and earlier in the drug discovery cycle within the pharmaceutical indus- try because of the well documented failure of clinical candidates due to inap- propriate pharmacokinetics and toxicity. In 2003, we transferred new ADMET assays developed by R&D to Discovery and Development Services’ routine operations, for the early measurement of absorption-related properties, solu- bility, metabolism, protein binding and cellular toxicity. We can now profile ‘hit’ compounds in these assays to identify inherent ADMET liabilities before medicinal chemistry optimisation.
Integration of random and rational discovery progressed. We strongly believe
that successful modern drug discovery is directly related to the effective inte- gration of random and rational approaches. Thus we continue to develop our capabilities in virtual screening to complement EVOscreen®. The results of protein-ligand docking virtual screens conducted at Evotec OAI in 2003 have proved very exciting, providing new starting points for medicinal chemistry programmes. We have built a database of over 5.5 million entries containing screening compounds from over 40 suppliers which is updated on a regular basis. We use this database in virtual screening as a source of compounds for docking together with virtual libraries of compounds readily accessible by chemistry proven at Evotec OAI. After applying the same series of drug like- ness filters that we use when selecting compounds for our uHTS screening library, we dock the compounds into the protein binding site. In 2003, we up- graded both our Linux cluster and distributed computing grid technology to add computing power to this virtual docking process. The final selection of compounds by our virtual screening process is dependent on the scores from up to eight scoring algorithms including one developed in-house.
X-ray crystallography group added. Virtual docking based screening requires
good quality structural data of the biological target of interest. Many of our clients are collaborating with us on novel proprietary targets for which the structure is not known. At the end of 2003 we initiated the establishment of an X-ray crystallography team by recruiting experienced personnel and pur- chasing X-ray equipment. This enables Evotec OAI to offer X-ray structure de- termination both for support of virtual screening and for iterative structure based design activities including target-lead co-crystallisation.
We continue to develop our virtual screening capabilities to complement EVOscreen® and
have built a database of over 5.5 million compound entries.
Our new X-ray crystallography team enables us to offer high-quality X-ray structure determination of target proteins necessary to conduct virtual screening.
R&D activities have focused on the extension of our portfolio of discovery products and services and the further develop- ment of decision support tools.
Management report R&D report 45
Informatics tools provide quick decisions. Computational Chemistry and In-
formatics tools are also helping with our hit discovery and lead optimisation. It is our philosophy to provide our combinatorial and medicinal chemists with state-of-the-art desktop decision tools—such as property calculations and computational rules—as an aid to the process of deciding which compounds to make next. Our tools allow chemists to evaluate properties such as LogP, polar surface area and Lipinski donor and acceptor counts. At the same time, the system assesses the compound against rules for oral absorption and bio- availability. Our chemists are also able to access on-line definitions of these rules and even the original papers so that they can make a judgement as to how relevant the rules are to their project. For more detailed studies of in silico ADMET, they are able to consult our computational chemistry team for access to more sophisticated predictions, including human intestinal absorption, serum albumin binding, blood-brain barrier penetration and aqueous solubil- ity. The models can be used to predict the ADME properties of virtual libraries and help the chemist select R-group inputs that will give the lead compound or the library a better chance of having good physiological properties. Our EVOseek system is linked in with the desktop property calculator and can be used to store and retrieve assay results and display them in a way that allows the medicinal chemist to interpret hit lists and mine the Structure Activity Relationships.
Cellular screening expanded. We are seeing increasing customer demand for
cell based screens and thus expanded related assay capabilities. Cell based assays are required for signalling pathways and membrane bound proteins as the application of virtual screening approaches is limited to the soluble pro- tein target classes for which structural information can be obtained. The per- formance of our proprietary uHTS platform EVOscreen® Mark III and our medium throughput screening system for cell based assays was further opti- mised and also the latter is now in regular use for client screening campaigns (e. g. Calcium flux, reporter and secretion assays). During the year, the assay portfolio utilising our Opera cell imaging reader has been further expanded and now includes bead based assays for the quantification of biomolecules at low concentration and dynamic assays within cells. These project specific de- velopments have been made possible through the further development of the flexible cell imaging software iMacro developed by the Evotec Technologies software team in Tallinn.
Elektra launched for cell sorting. Elektra is the most recent product from Evotec
Technologies (ET) and is used for single cell selection and recovery. Its unique features include the use of images from individual cells for the selection proc- ess instead of mere fluorescence intensity, providing much more information about the cell of interest, and the ability to deposit single cells safely and with- out contamination onto plates for growing clones.
Elektra thus complements ET’s fast growing sector of cell handling and analy- sis products, which now comprise not only analysis technology (Opera reader), but also sample preparation technology. This is demonstrated by the use of the Elektra platform in drug discovery for cloning cell lines more rapidly and efficiently than previously possible.
Discovery Programs Division. Achievements in our R&D programmes on propri-
etary targets and compounds are described in the segment report on page 37.
We see increasing customer demand for cell-based analysis and related screening and assay development capabilities.
Dr Ivan Lindley
Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research Vienna Unit Head