Drug Discovery & Medicinal Chemistry

Drug discovery is a challenging field, but the pathway most drugs navigate from concept to market is predictable and based upon repeated experimentation. The process requires scientists with expertise in chemistry, biology, and medicine. This course focuses on four aspects of drug development.

regulation - approval protocols for government regulatory agencies

pharmacodynamics - how a drug affects the body

pharmacokinetics - how a drug flows through the body

lead discovery/optimization - the steps for finding and improving molecules as potential drugs

The course closes with two case studies of molecules that have advanced through the development process and into clinical trials.

What you'll learn

• After completing this course, students will be able to...
• contrast the different steps of the drug discovery process,
• summarize the relationship between patents and generic drugs,
• interpret dose-response curves from the action of drugs on proteins,
• calculate drug-target binding energies from potency measures,
• describe factors that affect the flow of a drug through the body,
• predict structural changes in a molecule to influence half-life,
• priorize weakly active molecules as potential drug candidates,
• implement modifications to improve the properties of drug-like molecules, and
• assess literature reports of drug development programs.