Data-sharing partnership for drug discovery

AstraZeneca and Roche are pooling their data on compound properties to boost their chances of success in early stage drug development. The aim is to use the data to develop better design rules that will cut down the number of molecules that need to be synthesised in the journey from a screening hit to a drug candidate.

MedChemica, a company established by AstraZeneca employees, will curate the databases, and apply its ‘matched molecular pair analysis’ technique to identify modifications that will improve lead molecules’ metabolism, pharmacokinetics or safety, without divulging confidential information about their chemical structures.