Fragment-based Drug Discovery – A Boon in Disguise to get a Breakthrough Drug Against Covid-19

With over 855,000 cases and 42,000 deaths, the novel coronavirus has taken its toll on humanity. The pandemic is predicted to throw the global economy into recession, with loss of trillions of dollars. The pharmaceutical industry cannot escape the brunt of the circumstances as well. In fact, according to a survey, 95% of healthcare industry professionals are worried about the impact the pandemic is likely to have on the industry. To add fire to the fuel, there is no approved drug to curb the menace caused by the virus. While several agents are being investigated under clinical trials or being used under compassionate use protocols, efficacy has not been established for any drug. With almost the whole world on a lockdown and threat looming over the lives of billions of people, researchers need to find an effective drug at the earliest.

The road ahead is not easy. Drug discovery and development is a complex and tedious process requiring significant amount of time and resources. In fact, on an average, the entire drug development process (from initial proof-of-concept to commercial launch) takes around 10-15 years and requires huge capital investments (USD 2.6 billion). The world cannot wait for so long to get a cure for the drug. Fragment-based Drug Discovery (FBDD) may prove to be a boon in such testing times. With computational methods gaining widespread acceptance in drug discovery process, the FBDD approach is time-, money-, and labour saving. It is owing to these advantages that several players are offering libraries and services related to FBDD.

Companies Offering Fragment-based Drug Discovery Library and Services

Presently, over 90 firms are involved in providing fragment-based drug discovery-related services; of these, around 30 players claim to offer both libraries and technologies.

Companies providing fragment-based drug discovery library and services, and their geographical distribution

Which company has an edge over other companies?

With so many players in the market, it may become baffling to decide on which company would serve your purpose. Every company has its own unique set of libraries / technology platforms to cater to the needs of its clients. However, some companies do have advantages over other competitors, in terms of their experience and service portfolio. With the intention to develop a better understanding of the overall potential and capabilities of industry players involved in this domain, we carried out a company competitiveness analysis of the various stakeholders across different geographies.

Company Competitiveness Analysis to determine the most prominent players across different geograhies

Eager to know who these prominent players are? Don’t wait, check out the report here.

Cost Saving Potential of Fragment-based Drug Discovery

FBDD is a relatively new approach in the arena of drug discovery. In spite of this, more than 50% of current drug discovery projects are estimated to be using FBDD. In fact, there are already three marketed drugs that used the FBDD approach. Considering the prevalent trend of drug discovery and approval, we are led to believe that the fragment-based approach has the potential to enable significant time and cost savings.

Cost Saving Potential of Fragment-based Drug Discovery

Conclusion

 The COVID-19 outbreak has put the whole world under chaos. The stock market is down, strict border controls and country-wide lockdowns has taken a huge toll on the pharmaceutical industry and the health sector at large. The whole world is praying for a solution. All potential candidates are being investigated to find a breakthrough that would put a chain to the pandemic. In such global crisis, FBDD may prove to be a viable option to identify lead compounds at the earliest and get the potential leads into trials.

For further information on this emerging domain, check out the report here.