Industry reveals a suite of new drug structures

Abstract

Tucked away at the end of the first week of the American Chemical Society Spring 2021 meeting was the always-anticipated “First-Time Disclosures” session, in which industry reveals the structures of its latest clinical drug candidates. The event is a rare opportunity for chemists to peek inside the medicinal chemistry industry’s process for designing and homing in on new drugs. Chemists from Bristol Myers Squibb, Janssen Research and Development, and Deciphera Pharmaceuticals presented new cancer drugs. In addition, Ivan Efremov of Fulcrum Therapeutics presented a candidate that targets sickle cell disease (shown); Grace Chuang of Cytokinetics discussed a treatment for the rare genetic heart disease, obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy; and Michael Siu from Genentech spoke about a drug for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS. Session organizer Nicole Goodwin of GlaxoSmithKline pointed out that pyrazoles were popular this year, appearing in three of the six candidate molecules. “Pyrazoles for the win,”