Pharma, Pharmaceutics and Biotechnology Conference

Drug design and development are integral components of the battle against infectious diseases, an age when antimicrobial resistance threatens to undo decades of medical advancement. Innovation in drug design is complex but comes with a deep understanding of pathogens, their mechanisms of action, and how therapeutic agents can disrupt such processes in the successful treatment of infections. Typically, drug design begins by looking for molecular targets in the pathogens.

Based on that, by grasping the structure and function of the major proteins or enzymes responsible for the transmission, growth, and survival of the pathogen, researchers develop molecules that selectively inhibit these targets. That is the essence of rational drug design which, in infectious diseases, has led to the development of more effective drugs and fewer side effects.

New capabilities in computational chemistry and bioinformatics enable scientists to construct more accurate models of potential drug-target interactions, an important stage in drug discovery processes, to speed up the early stages of drug development. The drug development process, following the initial design of a drug, goes through the following other critical stages, preclinical testing in laboratory settings and animal model and a series of clinical trials in humans. These phases of trials determine if the drug is safe, how effective it is, and at what dose before its acceptance into the general market.

It may take years, but modern approaches such as adaptive designs and real-world evidence help to hasten the timelines. New challenges in antimicrobial therapies have never been as acute as at present, considering the emergence and spread of drug-resistant pathogens.

Consequently, new therapeutic classes including host-directed therapies, immune modulators, and combination therapies are currently being searched by science to counteract resistance. Personalized medicine, tailoring drug treatments to an individual's genetic makeup, is also now beginning to play a role in drug development.

The scientific progress underlying drug design and development for infectious diseases will be scrutinized in depth in this session. Understand some of the very recent approaches, challenges, and directions in this fast-changing field.