What if we told you that designing new medicines is a bit like building with LEGO? 🧱💊

In Episode 3 of our #DrugDiscoveryExplained series, our Senior Discovery Project Manager Fanny Beltran Escudié explains lead optimization.

This is the step where scientists tweak molecules, piece by piece — swapping out parts to reduce toxicity, improve stability, and boost effectiveness — until it’s ready for preclinical testing. ✨

Watch our video to understand how future medicines are built, not found!

🔗 Want to know even more?
👉 Visit the Drug Discovery Explained webpage: https://bit.ly/4c7ttBJ

#DrugDiscovery #LeadOptimization #ScienceExplained
BenevolentAI | Institut Pasteur Korea | Fiocruz | Universidade Estadual de Campinas | USP - Universidade de São Paulo | Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute | London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, U. of London | Drug Discovery Unit, University of Dundee | Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp | Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit MORU | Nagasaki University | TDR | Epichem | Monash University | Griffith University | University of Antwerp | TCG Lifesciences Pvt Ltd. | GSK | FAPESP | Northeastern University (USA) | Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar | SHOBHABEN PRATAPBHAI PATEL SCHOOL OF PHARMACY & TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT | Chagas Coalition | Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)

📢 Important announcement!

Today, the ASAP Discovery consortium disclosed the structure of our preclinical candidate, ASAP-0017445, a promising broad-spectrum antiviral with potent activity against SARS-CoV2 and other viruses belonging to the same family. The disclosure was made by Ed Griffen at the #ACSSpring2025 conference in San Diego.

🔬 Researchers from the ASAP consortium built this preclinical candidate using a scaffold initially discovered and optimized by hundreds of researchers working collectively under the umbrella of the Moonshot initiative, ASAP predecessor. Wellcome Trust financially supported the lead optimization work leading up to the identification of this candidate compound.

💊 Our common goal: develop affordable, accessible & straight-to-generic antivirals against viruses of pandemic potential, using open science, AI, and crowdsourcing on a massive scale. (More details about this extraordinary scientific endeavor in this Science Magazine article: https://lnkd.in/gpkGraPX)

🤝 The structure of ASAP-0017445, all 800+ X-ray crystal structures with compounds that enabled its development bound, and the results of the Polaris design challenge are now available in the public domain: https://lnkd.in/eYtBd-NR

🌍 To facilitate downstream development & manufacturing in different parts of the world, and guarantee access to the future drug, we decided to file a defensive patent. This will maintain the openness of the project. Our ASAP intellectual property policy is detailed here: https://lnkd.in/etSKGR3G

🥼 By submitting this ‘minimally defensive, maximally permissive’ patent, making the structure of ASAP-0017445 public, and providing access to the full data set contributing to the discovery of the lead compound, we ensure that this open science initiative can continue and that any medicinal chemist on the planet can take our work, improve it, and put our research data to the most optimal use – all with the ultimate goal of bringing life-saving medicines to all patients, as fast as possible.

#OpenScience #DrugDevelopment #Crowdsourcing #AccessToMedicine #PandemicPreparedness
MedChemica Ltd | PostEra | John Chodera | Diamond Light Source | Mount Sinai Health System | Weizmann Institute of Science | Enamine Ltd.

This month marks five years since WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

Millions of lives were lost, in large part because the latest advances in science were not equitably accessible.

That is why, from advancing antiviral research with the latest tech tools to pushing governments for international collaborations towards global health equity, we’re working with partners to make sure we are ready when the next health crisis hits.

👉 Swipe through to see what we’ve done – and are doing – since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

#COVID19 #GlobalHealth #PandemicPreparedness

We're very honoured to be included in Madhukar Pai, MD, PhD's list of #GlobalHealth films. 📽️ Six years ago, we created "A Doctor's Dream" to celebrate the approval of the first all-oral treatment for sleeping sickness. Its message rings true today: only by working together can we bring the best science to those who need it most. 🔬

On behalf of #DNDi it was a great honor to receive the "Rapid Translation Award" last night at the Advocacy Awards event hosted by Research!America: Discovery. Innovation. Health. As I shared with the attendees, the origin story of DNDi started with advocacy for better treatments demanded by the patients, physicians, and communities facing fatal diseases, like sleeping sickness, which lead to medical breakthroughs. And now, today, advocacy is needed more than ever to ensure the principles of partnership, scientific integrity, and health equity are globally and locally felt by all. Congratulations to all the other esteemed honorees! #RAAwards Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi)