Drug Discovery Services

Research team may be starting down the path to the Fountain of Youth: discovery of a drug that can control both osteoporosis and obesity

A research team led by Clifford Rosen, M.D., of Maine Medical Center Research Institute (MMCRI), recently isolated a protein called nocturnin that regulates the amount of marrow fat that a mouse develops in its bones. Mice without this protein have less marrow fat and increased bone mass, while those with too much nocturnin showed the reverse. Nocturnin, true to its root word, is “tied to the mouse's mechanism for keeping time, such that it comes on during evening when the mouse consumes food,” Rosen explains.

Nocturnin’s effect on the number of marrow fat cells is indirect; it actually regulates the activity of another protein called PPARG that plays a direct role in the creation of marrow fat cells. Previous research showed that the drug Rosiglitazone, which is used to treat type 2 diabetes, stimulates PPARG, resulting in increased numbers of marrow fat cells.

"Increasing our understanding of how and why marrow-residing fat cells develop could ultimately lead to increased treatment options for osteoporosis. And, as fat cells elsewhere in the body also express both PPARG and nocturnin, this work potentially could increase our understanding of obesity," reported a member of the research team, Cheryl Ackert-Bicknell, Ph.D., a postdoctoral associate at The Jackson Laboratory.

Best-in-Class Drug Discovery Services Providers:

• Utilize state-of-the-art equipment, software, hardware and procedures.
• Has access to a large and diverse chemical compound library.
• Provides high throughput screening.

Top Considerations Before Selecting Drug Discovery Services:

Having good relationships with other companies and academic scientists can really enhance the capabilities of a drug discovery service company. New approaches, techniques and equipment are always under development, and a company with connections to other researchers is in a better position to be able to exploit these technologies before the marketplace catches up.

Key Producers:

1. Rules-Based Medicine, Inc. (RBM), founded in 1998, is the world's leading biomarker testing laboratory. By combining EDI’s cell culture systems with its HumanMAP® biomarker testing services, RBM is able to offer customers a preview of the physiological and biochemical impact of a new drug before the human trial stage begins. RBM has developed a number of solutions including: a self-contained whole-blood culture system that it reports "brings reproducibility and simplicity to ex vivo immune response measurement" and "novel and companion diagnostic tests for complex diseases and therapies.” Corporate headquarters and CLIA-certified biomarker testing laboratory are in Austin, TX; multiplex assay development and manufacturing is in Lake Placid, NY and its wholly owned subsidiary EDI GmbH is in Reutlingen, Germany.

2. The Jackson Laboratory is an NCI-designated Cancer Center that uses mouse genomics to discover ways to prevent cancer as well as to discover drugs to treat conditions including: cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’ and cardiovascular disease. In addition to conducting genetic research, this independent, nonprofit organization provides scientific resources, techniques, software, data and mice colonies for test animals to scientists in research institutions and laboratories around the world. Jackson Laboratory scientists are engaged in collaborative research with organizations around the world.  It fulfills its mission statement of “discover(ing) the genetic basis for preventing, treating and curing human disease, and…enable(ing) research and education for the global biomedical community" by offering academic programs for teachers, and high school through predoctoral students, as well as offering student internships and hosting events on campuses. A third laboratory in Florida will be added to its two existing facilities in Maine and California.

3. RTI International provides non-clinical drug development services to non-profit organizations and to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and chemical industries and governments around the world. Drug discovery and development is one of RTI International's core research activities. The cancer drugs Taxol® and camptothecin were discovered by its drug discovery group, which also has a specialty in central nervous system drug research.  RTI, which has been in business since 1958, has its headquarters in Research Triangle Park NC and regional offices in 7 US states and in 7 other countries.

4. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals specializes in the discovery and clinical development of drugs for the treatment of central nervous system disorders using its proprietary drug discovery platform. In addition to a large propriety library of small organic molecules, ACADIA has developed a set of proprietary assays mainly in the G-protein coupled receptor and nuclear gene families. It believes that "these gene families represent the most relevant and feasible targets for small molecule discovery focused on central nervous system indications." The headquarters of this publically traded company is in San Diego CA. The company, which was formerly called Receptor Technologies, Inc., was founded in 1993.

Drug Discovery Services
Definition: Performance of the processes that go into the discovery or design of a new medication, which involve candidate identification, synthesis, characterization and screening as well as quantification of therapeutic efficacy.