9^th Annual Congress on Drug Design & Drug Formulation October 19-20, 2017 Seoul, South Korea

The processes of designing a new drug by using bioinformatics implements have opened a new area of drug research and development. Computational techniques assist us in searching drug target and in designing drug. Bioinformatics affects a new drug design in the following drug design path.

By using computational methods and the 3D structural information of the protein target, we are now able to scrutinise the detailed underlying molecular and atomic interactions involved in ligand:protein interactions and thus interpret experimental results in detail. The use of computers in drug discovery bears the additional advantage of delivering new drug candidates more rapidly and cost-efficiently. Computer-aided drug discovery has recently had important successes: new ligands have been predicted along with their receptor-bound structures and in several circumstances the achieved hit rates (ligands discovered per molecules tested) have been significantly greater than through experimental high-throughput screening. Strategies for CADD vary depending on the extent of structural and other information available regarding the target (enzyme/receptor) and the ligands. Computer-aided drug design (CADD) is an exciting and diverse discipline where various aspects of applied and basic research merge and stimulate each other. In the early stage of a drug discovery process, researchers may be faced with little or no structure activity relationship (SAR) information. The process by which a new drug is brought to market stage is mentioned to by a number of names most commonly as the development chain or “pipeline” and comprises of a number of distinct stages. To design a rational drug, we must firstly find out which proteins can be the drug targets in pathogenesis. In present review we reported a brief history of CADD, DNA as target, receptor theory, structure optimization, structure-based drug design, virtual high-throughput screening (vHTS), graph machines. All the world’s major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies use computational design tools.

Molecular modeling has become a valuable and essential tool to medicinal chemists in the drug design process. Molecular modeling designates the generation, manipulation or representation of three-dimensional structures of molecules and associated physico-chemical properties. The aim of this review is to give an outline of studies in the field of medicinal chemistry in which molecular modeling has helped in the discovery process of new drugs. 

The traditional way of drug discovery is the experimental screening of large collections of chemicals against a biological target (high-throughput screening or HTS) for identifying new lead compounds. The application of rational, structure-based drug design is proven to be more capable than the traditional way of drug discovery since it aims to understand the molecular basis of a disease and utilizes the knowledge of the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the biological target in the process. State of the art structure-based drug design methods include virtual screening and de novo drug design; these serve as an efficient, alternative approach to HTS.

Technological advancements in the molecular characterization of cancers have assisted researchers to identify an increasing number of key molecular drivers of cancer progression. These discoveries have led to multiple novel anticancer therapeutics, and clinical advantage in selected patient populations. Despite this, the identification of clinically relevant predictive biomarkers of response continues to lag behind. In this review, we discuss strategies for the molecular characterization of cancers and the importance of biomarkers for the development of novel antitumor therapeutics. The discovery and evaluation of any novel biomarkers will ideally be specialised to Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) and Good Clinical Laboratory Practice (GCLP) standards, so as to ensure accuracy and reproducibility of laboratory procedures. Predictive biomarkers indicate the likelihood of response to a specific antitumor therapy. Such assays should be scientifically sound, Predictive biomarkers include both tumor-specific and surrogate biomarkers, and are crucial to accelerating the drug development process.

Drug Delivery is the process of governing a pharmaceutical compound to attain a therapeutic effect in humans or animals. For the cure of human diseases, nasal and pulmonary routes of drug delivery are ahead increasing importance. Drug release, absorption, distribution, and elimination profiles to improve product efficacy and safety, as well as patient convenience and compliance, can be modified through drug delivery technologies. Oral and parenteral are the most common routes of drug delivery, but alternative drug delivery is preferred in many situations.

It is driven by chemistry but gradually directed by pharmacology and the clinical Sciences, drug research has contributed more to the development of medicine during the past century than any other scientific factor. Improving the science of drug development and instruction is important in fulfilling the public health. The initiation of molecular biology and, in particular, of genomic sciences is having a deep conclusion on drug discovery. Emphasis is positioned on the contrast between the academic and industrial research operating environments, which can influence the efficacy of research collaboration between the two communities, but which plays such an important role in drug innovation. The strategic challenges that research directors aspect are also emphasized. In discovery process comprises the early phases of research, which are designed to identify an investigational drug and achieve primary tests in the lab. This first stage of the process proceeds almost three to six years. By the end, investigators hope to identify a accomplished drug aspirant to further study in the lab and in animal models, and then in people. These advances offer great ability, but also add complexity to the R&D process. In order to ensure the safety and efficacy of personalized therapies that are used alongside diagnostics, clinical trial protocols must be modified and enhanced.

Drug Formulation is the study of relationships between pre formulation, pharmaceutical formulation, delivery, disposition and clinical response. The inherent instability nature of a new drug will alter its preferred form into undesired form when presented in a suitable dosage form with the excipient/s upon storage. In early days this process was restricted only for assessing few characteristics, but today this process is being considered as a formulation strategy and hence tremendous technological advancement has been accomplished in this field which enables us to save time and money through planned management system and hence impacts Drug Formulation 2017 to be a formulation conference. Use of glorious statistical software even based on artificial neural networking are made the task of pre formulation and optimization process easier. Role of pre formulation studies techniques like freeze drying aspects projects the event Drug Formulation 2017 to pose as a freeze drying meeting in drug discovery, drug development plays major role in pharmaceutical formulation development and the revisions will help in different dosage forms design. With the increasing number of novel and specialized compounds being developed, a "one size fits all" approach to drug formulation and delivery is no longer optimal, necessitating the consideration of formulations unique to each drug. NDDS conference will discuss on Premature Approaches, Present Scenario and Future Prospects of Pre formulation events. There are more than 1400 sustained or controlled release drugs have been approved all over the world. Pharmaceutical conferences discuss the state-of-art technology being applied and involve advances in formulation studies.

Revenues within the global generics market reached an estimated value of $265 b in 2012, showing a growth of 9.3% throughout the year. The contribution of generics is approximately 20% of overall international pharmaceutical market. The utilization of generic in terms of volume is higher in the US and lower in Japan, 89% and 24% respectively.

Traditional medicine is a combination of vast knowledge, skills and practices based on the theories, beliefs and experiences from inherent  to different cultures, whether explicable or not. But used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment of physical and mental illness. Traditional medicine comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within various societies before the era of modern medicine. Traditional Medicine modernization is the only way of TM development and also an effective approach to the development of new drugs and the discovery of potential drug targets (PDTs). Discovery and validation of PTDs has become the “bottle-neck” restricted new drug research and development and is urgently solved.

Formulations are classified into two types: based on Route of administration and Physical form. Based on route of administration they are classified as Oral, Topica, Rectal, Parenteral, Vaginal, Inhaled, Ophthalmic and octic . A route of administration is the path by which a drug, fluid, poison, or other substance is involved into the body[1] Routes of administration are generally classified by the location at which the substance is applied. Common examples include oral and intravenous administration. Routes can also be categorised based on where the target of action is. Action may be topical (local), enteral (system-wide effect, but delivered through the gastrointestinal tract), or parenteral (systemic action, but delivered by routes other than the GI tract).

The drug subjected to drug development undergo number of trials and are screened at different stages to produce a final potent drug for the treatment of various diseases. During this process different properties are checked to see whether the drug is non-toxic to living system and is therapeutic or not. Using suitable excipients and technological preparations the active substances are formulated into final dosage form. The final product is the Actual composition of preparation, manufacturing specification.

A detailed analysis of the industry structure of contract manufacturing, contract research and contract packaging has been conducted. Revenues are broken down by type of industry. Sales figures are estimated for the five-year period from 2013 through 2018. The United States is currently spending almost $250 billion a year for prescription drugs. If drugs were sold in a competitive market, without government-imposed patent monopolies, this might achieve savings up to $200 billion a year.

Pharmacokinetics is currently defined as the study of the time course of drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion. Clinical pharmacokinetics is the application of pharmacokinetic principles to the safe and effective therapeutic management of drugs in an individual patient. Primary goals of clinical pharmacokinetics include enhancing efficacy and decreasing toxicity of a patient’s drug therapy. The development of strong correlations between drug concentrations and their pharmacologic responses has enabled clinicians to apply pharmacokinetic principles to actual patient situations.

 Pharmacodynamics refers to the relationship between drug concentration at the site of action and the resulting effect, including the time course and intensity of therapeutic and adverse effects. The effect of a drug present at the site of achievement is determined by that drug’s binding with a receptor. Receptors may be present on neurons in the central nervous system (i.e., opiate receptors) to depress pain sensation, on cardiac muscle to affect the intensity of contraction, or even within bacteria to disrupt maintenance of the bacterial cell wall

Clinical Biotherapeutic aspects including study design, drug-drug interactions, QT assessment, immunogenicity, comparability, special populations (hepatic and liver failure), PK and PD, regulatory expectations of PK and PD characterization, as well as reviewing factors which influence the ADME of Biotherapeutics. The objectives of early clinical development of therapeutic proteins are the same as for small molecules i.e. to investigate the molecule in a manner that will gain necessary knowledge about its tolerability safety pharmacokinetics (PK) and if possible pharmacodynamics (PD) effects in the most appropriate human populations while simultaneously protecting their safety. However, there are specific features of proteins that must be considered when designing clinical pharmacology studies.

Size reduction is a fundamental unit operation having important applications in pharmacy. It helps in improving solubility and bioavailability, reducing toxicity, enhancing release and providing better formulation opportunities for drugs. In most of the cases, size reduction is limited to micron size range, for example, various pharmaceutical dosage forms like powder, emulsion, suspension etc. Drugs in the nano meter size range enhance performance in a variety of dosage forms. Major advantages of nanosizing include (i) increased surface area, (ii) enhanced solubility, (iii) increased rate of dissolution, (iv) increased oral bioavailability, (v) more rapid onset of therapeutic action, (vi) less amount of dose required, (vii) decreased fed/fasted variability, and (viii) decreased patient-to-patient variability.

Pharmaceutical nanotechnology has provided more fine-tuned diagnosis and focused treatment of disease at a molecular level. Pharmaceutical nanotechnology is most innovative and highly specialized field, which will revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry in near future. Pharmaceutical nanotechnology presents revolutionary opportunities to fight against many diseases. It helps in detecting the antigen associated with diseases such as cancer, diabetes mellitus, neurodegenerative diseases, as well as detecting the microorganisms and viruses associated with infections. It is expected that in next 10 years market will be flooded with nanotechnology devised medicine.

Novel Drug delivery System (NDDS) refers to the formulations, systems and technologies for transporting a pharmaceutical compound in the body as it is needed to safely achieve its desired therapeutic effects. Drug delivery systems (DDS), are based on approaches that are interdisciplinary and that combine pharmaceutics, bio conjugate chemistry, and molecular biology. drug delivery is a method of delivering medication to a patient in a manner that increases the concentration of the medication in some parts of the body relative to others. This means of provision is largely initiated on nanomedicine, which plans to employ nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery in order to combat the downfalls of conventional drug delivery. These nanoparticles would be loaded with drugs and targeted to specific parts of the body where there is exclusively diseased tissue, thereby avoiding interaction with healthy tissue. The goal of a targeted drug delivery system is to prolong, localize, target and have a susceptible drug interaction with the diseased tissue. The conventional drug delivery system is the absorption of the drug across a biological membrane, whereas the targeted dispute system releases the drug in a dosage form. The advantages to the targeted release system is the reduction in the frequency of the dosages taken by the patient, having a more constant effect of the drug, reduction of drug side-effects, and reduced fluctuation in circulating drug levels. The disadvantage of the system is high cost, which makes productivity more difficult and the reduced ability to adjust the dosages.

Identifying drug targets plays essential roles in designing new drugs and combating diseases. Unfortunately, our current understanding about drug targets is far from comprehensive. Screening drug targets in the lab is an expensive and time-consuming procedure. In the past decade, the accumulation of various types of study of science related data makes it possible to develop computational approaches to predict drug targets. Non-communicable diseases such as cancer, atherosclerosis and diabetes are responsible for most important social and health affliction as millions of people are dying every year. Out of which, atherosclerosis is the leading cause of deaths worldwide. The lipid abnormality is one of the most important modifiable risk factors for atherosclerosis. Both genetic and environmental components are associated with the development of atherosclerotic plaques. Immune and inflammatory mediators have a complex role in the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis. Understanding of all these processes will help to invent a range of new biomarkers and novel treatment modalities targeting various cellular events in acute and chronic inflammation that are accountable for atherosclerosis. Several biochemical pathways, receptors and enzymes are involved in the development of atherosclerosis that would be possible targets for improving strategies for disease diagnosis and management.

Medicinal Chemistry is a branch of chemistry which especially deals with synthetic organic chemistry and pharmacology including various other biological specialties which is involved with design, chemical synthesis and development of drug for marketing of pharmaceutical agents. It combines knowledge and skills from the fields of cheminformatics, molecular modeling and structural bioinformatics and demands an in-depth understanding of the physico-chemical properties of a three-dimensional molecule. The knowledge base required by today's medicinal chemist has increased dramatically and has highlighted an escalating challenge for chemists to understand the growing field of drug design.

Drug manufacturing (Pharmaceutical Manufacturing)  is the process of industrial-scale synthesis of pharmaceutical drugs by pharmaceutical companies. The process of drug manufacturing can be demolished down into a series of unit operations, such as milling, granulation, coating, tablet pressing, and others. The changing pharmaceutical landscape is a popular discussion point as of late. Armed with a fresh, non-blockbuster-reliant business model and treatment options that are expanding from small molecules to a range of new, more targeted therapies, the industry is at what PwC calls, “a critical juncture.”

Parenteral drug delivery is the second largest segment of this transformative pharmaceutical market covered only by the more mature oral solid dosage forms  accounting for nearly 30 percent of total pharma market share. According to Survey, the market for parenteral drug delivery  products is projected to rise over 10 percent annually to $86.5 billion in 2019.

Pharmaceutical engineering is a branch of pharmaceutical science and technology that involves development and manufacturing of products, processes, and components in the pharmaceuticals industry (i.e. drugs & biologics). While developing pharmaceutical products involves many interrelated disciplines (e.g. medicinal chemists, analytical chemists, clinicians/pharmacologists, pharmacists, chemical engineers, biomedical engineers, etc.), the specific subfield of "pharmaceutical engineering" has only emerged recently as a divergent engineering discipline. This now brings the problem-solving principles and quantitative training of engineering to complement the other scientific fields already involved in drug development.

As developers and manufacturers of life-saving products, the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies play an important eccentric in improving access to medicine for the world’s poor. Through their own initiatives and in collaboration with other relevant stakeholders such as multi-lateral organizations, governments and the global health community, these companies are increasingly helping to address the admittance to medicine challenge. In order to suitably capture the industry’s progress in line with society’s evolving expectations, the Access to Medicine Index methodology is systematically reviewed every two years. While maintaining as much consistency as possible for the purpose of trend analysis, the methodology is adjusted where needed.

Regulatory Affairs contributes essentially to the overall success of drug development, both at early pre-marketing stages and at all times post-marketing. The pharmaceutical industry deals with an increasing number of interesting drug candidates, all of which necessitate the involvement of the Regulatory Affairs’ department. Regulatory Affairs professionals can play a key role in guiding drug development strategy in an increasingly global environment. But they also play an important operational role, for example, by considering the best processes to follow and enabling structured interaction with regulatory authorities. Regulatory Affairs is driven by good science and accordingly nothing remains static.

The overall emerging markets for therapeutic drugs totaled $131.4 billion in 2009. These regions include Latin America, China, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, South Korea, India, Russia, and South Africa. These regions are estimated at $145.8 billion in 2010 and expected to continue aggressive growth through 2015, reaching a figure of $214.2 billion, yielding a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8% from 2010 to 2015.

For entrepreneurs, this would be an ideal place to find out suitable investors and partners to start or expand their business.

If you’re thinking about a business opportunity that will require investment, then attend networking events in your area to identify key members of the investor community and meet other entrepreneurs. It is never too early to approach potential investors and it may be easier to create an informal relationship when you’re not actively seeking investment for your start-up.