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Target class drug discovery

Nature Chemical Biology volume 13, pages 1053–1056 (2017)Cite this article

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Selection of molecular targets based on disease understanding is a dominant paradigm in drug discovery. We argue that a focus on classes of targets with central roles in biology provides a complementary approach that has higher quality outcomes in early discovery efforts.

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Figure 1: The three principles of target class discovery.
Figure 2: Overview of target class scaffold hopping and optimization.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

    Kimberly D Barnash, Lindsey I James & Stephen V Frye

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  1. Kimberly D Barnash
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  2. Lindsey I James
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  3. Stephen V Frye
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Correspondence to Stephen V Frye.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Barnash, K., James, L. & Frye, S. Target class drug discovery. Nat Chem Biol 13, 1053–1056 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.2473

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