DRUG EVOLUTION: DRUG DESIGN AT HOT SPOTS

摘要

A new method of designing and generating compounds having an increased probability of being drugs, drug candidates, or biologically active compounds, in particular having a therapeutic utility, is disclosed. The method consists of identifying a group of bioactive compounds, preferably of diverse therapeutic uses or biological activities and built on a common building block. In this group of compounds, side chains modifying the building block are identified and used to generate a second set of compounds according to the proposed methods of "hybridization", "single substitution" or "incorporation of frequently used side chains". If the compounds in the second set built on the same building block contain an unusually large number of drugs, preferably with diverse therapeutic uses or biological activities, they constitute a "hot spot". A focused combinatorial library of the "hot spot" is then generated, preferably by methods of combinatorial chemistry, and compounds of this library are screened for a variety of therapeutic uses or biological activities. The method generates drugs, drug candidates, or biologically active compounds with a high probability, without requiring any prior knowledge of biological targets.