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L26 - Introduction To Drug Discovery And Design

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Total cards: 24•Content version: v4•Public deck•Updated: 8/1/2026

Card preview (24)

#1
Front (Question)

What does drug design cover?

Back (Answer)

The identification and optimisation of the API

#2
Front (Question)

Where does the API come from? (3)

Back (Answer)

• natural products = earliest source of drugs • semi-synthetic = derivaties of natural products, receptor selectivity • synthetic = small molecule, large biological drugs

#3
Front (Question)

What is the Ebers Papyrus?

Back (Answer)

Oldest compendiums of treatments for disease (1550BC) - mentions mental disorders and remedies (depression and dementia)

#4
Front (Question)

What are sources of natural products? (3)

Back (Answer)

From cells, tissues and secretions - microorganisms (penicilin) - plants (morphine) - animals (conotoxins)

#5
Front (Question)

Where is morphine derived from?

Back (Answer)

Seedpods of the poppy

#6
Front (Question)

What is the history of morphine?

Back (Answer)

1800’s: opium a painkiller 1783-1841: isolate the active ingredient in opium Mid 1820’s: producing standardised doses of the drug Initially marketed as: non addictive cure for addiction to both alcohol and opium

#7
Front (Question)

What are examples of other natural products? (5)

Back (Answer)

• doxorubicin • erthromycin A • steptomycin • cyclosporin A • taxol (Antibiotics)

#8
Front (Question)

What are semi-synthetic drugs?

Back (Answer)

Synthesising a particular chemical using naturally occuring chemicals as a starting material

#9
Front (Question)

What are the advantages of semi-synthesis? (3)

Back (Answer)

• moleculres are too complex and too difficult to synthesis chemically • limited availability from natural sources • altered receptor selectivity, improves specificity = addtional/alternative uses

#10
Front (Question)

What is an example of a semi-synthetic drug?

Back (Answer)

Taxol

#11
Front (Question)

How does taxol work?

Back (Answer)

Cell division by binding to the protein tubulin, prevents mitosis - potential source of anticancer drugs from yew bark

#12
Front (Question)

What can result from modification of morphine?

Back (Answer)

Opioid analogues with varying potency and receptor specificity

#13
Front (Question)

What can chemical modifications to morphine change?

Back (Answer)

Which receptor type the compound binds to and the effect it causes

#14
Front (Question)

What are synthethic drugs?

Back (Answer)

Synthesis of drugs using chemical methods, starting from readily available materials

#15
Front (Question)

What are advantages to synthetic drugs? (3)

Back (Answer)

• reliability of production • cost effective • quality control

#16
Front (Question)

What are disadvantages of synthetic drugs? (2)

Back (Answer)

• limited chemical space • limited number of steps

#17
Front (Question)

What is rational drugs design?

Back (Answer)

Rationally discover the identity of the API using a series of techniques and methods

#18
Front (Question)

What targets can we focus on when designing a drug? (3)

Back (Answer)

• enzymes • receptors • ion channels

#19
Front (Question)

What makes a target ‘druggable’? (3)

Back (Answer)

• disease-modifying • less important under physiological condition or in other diseases • expression is not uniformly distributed throughout the body

#20
Front (Question)

What are properties of an ideal drug target? (5)

Back (Answer)

• 3D structure for target protein/close homolog should be available for druggability assessment • favourable assay ability • biomarker exists to monitor therapeutic efficacy • favourable prediction of potential side effects • target has a favourable IP situational

#21
Front (Question)

What are properties of drug-like molecules? (4)

Back (Answer)

• low MW • not too ipophilic • not too hydrophilic • presence of functional groups

#22
Front (Question)

What are properties of druggable targets? (3)

Back (Answer)

• protein • leads to biological response • does not cause toxicity

#23
Front (Question)

What chemical properties should the drug have?

Back (Answer)

Lipinski’s Ro5 - MW < 500 - logP < 5 - < 5 H bond donors - < 10 H bond acceptors

#24
Front (Question)

What does a drug molecule possess?

Back (Answer)

Structural framework that holds the functinal groups in defined position