Drug Discovery

Please see below for details about the various drug discovery services we provide:

Medicinal Chemistry

The Research Network (TRN) offers an expert Medicinal Chemistry design service to progress your drug discovery programs from initial target evaluation and hit identification (HI), through lead optimisation (LO) and to candidate drug (CD) selection. Compound design and quality are led by our Medicinal Chemistry team with in-depth experience gained in both Pharma and Biotech R&D organisations.

We offer experience in Receptor, Enzyme, Peptide and Bio-conjugate drugs for oral, parenteral and inhaled delivery. Expert understanding of the properties to afford CDs with the desired PK profile and CMC characteristics. We advise on attrition with our in-house Attrition Knowledgebase, provide input into patent writing and Intellectual Property (IP) analysis and strategy.

With a wide range of expertise in our team of experienced medicinal chemists we are able to select the best expert for your needs and provide flexible scientific support as well as project management and leadership to your HI, LO and CD campaigns. We access a wide range of partner CRO’s to ensure the best-fit support for your project. Our experts cover many therapeutic areas: Cardiovascular; Metabolic Diseases; Respiratory; Inflammation; Oncology; Neuroscience; Dermatology and Virology; as well as large molecules approaches: Peptides and Bio-conjugation.

Synthetic Chemistry

The TRN Synthetic Chemistry Team specialise in providing expert support, consultancy, project management and design of bespoke solutions for your outsourcing research and synthethic strategy. We do not represent CROs but we are driven to finding the right partner to fit your project needs.

We deliver highly competitive quotes and flexible resource options in all areas including the following:

FFS (Fee For Service) or FTE (Full Time Employee) requests to deliver:

Medicinal chemistry projects including the delivery of test compounds
Synthetic intermediates including monomers and templates to support parallel medicinal chemistry efforts
Re-syntheses, metabolites, reference standards
Design of routes to difficult or speculative new chemistry
API delivery including custom syntheses, solid form analysis and formulation support
Bio conjugation strategy and synthesis

Parallel Medicinal Chemistry:

Using a preferred highly cost-effective expert supplier using extensive in-house file of monomers or using your own bespoke compounds and commercial reagents.

CRO Project Management:

Customised to meet the needs of the client, for one or multiple requests
CRO metrics
Cultural awareness, expertise working with India, China, America and Europe

Additional Services:

Route design and selection including optimising the link between discovery and early clinical development phases
Problem solving and technical trouble-shooting
Assistance with shipping, communication, data transfer, software solutions to support logistics
Import/Export logistics – Forms, HTS coding, couriers, customs

Biology

The TRN Biology team has over 70 years (collective) experience of working within the bio-pharmaceutical industry and academia to manage all aspects of biological research. Our team has extensive laboratory and leadership experience with numerous therapeutic areas including; oncology, pain, neuroscience, cardiovascular, respiratory disease, immunology, genitourinary, sexual health, inflammation and infection.

We also have extensive experience of managing the logistics of global biological research, operating multinational/multisite collaborative research projects, ensuring delivery of results, analysis/interpretation of data and all necessary legal documentation is in place.

Please click on the tabs below for more information about the additional support we offer:

TRN provide expertise and support for drug target identification and validation, including design of experimental strategy, data review and scientific oversight of collaborative research in emerging areas of technical innovation. TRN can provide support in the following areas:

Gene, protein and miRNA expression analysis
Genotyping and SNP analysis
High-content, genome-wide or subset screening, including RNAi, epigenetics, next generation and deep sequencing
Validation in disease-relevant cell lines, human tissue, or in vivo models using tool compounds, antibodies, knockout, knockdown or overexpression strategies
Biomarker discovery
Translational Medicine

The Molecular Pharmacology Team comprises of drug discovery experts who specialise in ensuring molecules progress from project initiation to pre-clinical studies effectively and efficiently. Our expertise focuses on ensuring that your screening cascades are underpinned by sound pharmacological principles and propelled by cutting-edge assay design and technology. Our bespoke service focuses on developing innovative screening approaches and analytical methodologies to triage your active compounds and biologics, and for differentiating, advantageous pharmacological profiles and mechanisms of action.

Working with the bio-pharmaceutical industry and academia, our team has a proven track record of delivering numerous biochemical and cell-based assays for even the most challenging of targets. The teams’ members have experience with many target classes, and have particular expertise in enzymes, GPCRs and ion channels applied across a variety of therapeutic areas including; oncology, neuroscience, cardiovascular, respiratory disease, immunology and infection. We utilise a wide network of established service providers working to the highest standards and accreditation to optimise the quality, cost and speed of collaborative drug discovery.

The key advantages of working with the TRN Molecular Pharmacology Team:

Drawing on extensive assay implementation experience (within HTS and Project Teams) to bring clarity and focus to your screening cascade
Fundamental understanding of principles of pharmacology and their application in the discovery process; thus ensuring relevance to preclinical studies and translation to clinical models.
Industrial process and lean design methods to increase performance and validity of assays
Bespoke analytics to extract key pharmacological insights from screening data
Ability to identify differentiating mechanisms-of-action of your molecules to create therapeutic and business opportunities
Close links with assay technology suppliers
Crystal structure and biophysical analysis of drug-target interaction to support structure-based drug design
Design of protocols and strategic sourcing solutions to evaluate in vivo efficacy
Provision of biological reagents including cell line generation, peptide synthesis, recombinant protein production

Whether you are a bio-pharmaceutical company looking to efficiently outsource your hit to lead and lead optimisation programmes, a resource constrained research organisation requiring additional expertise to deliver compelling project data packages or a university technology transfer group looking to maximise the medical and financial benefit of discoveries from your academic scientists, we can help you efficiently generate the key data that you need to deliver results.

TRN utilise a wide network of established service providers working to the highest standards and accreditation to optimise the quality, cost and speed of collaborative drug discovery. TRN can provide support in the following areas:

Drug target validation in disease-relevant models using tool compounds, antibodies, knockout, knockdown or overexpression strategies
Biomarker Discovery
Design of protocols and strategic sourcing solutions to evaluate in vivo efficacy and selectivity.
Supply and shipping logistics of biological samples QC, scientific review and secure data management

Translational R&D

The TRN Translational R & D team has extensive experience integrating and applying discoveries generated during research in the laboratory, and in preclinical studies, to the design of clinical trials and studies in humans. The TRN team will work both with basic scientists to identify and investigate the clinical applications of their research, and with clinical scientists to formulate research studies based on their clinical observations.

The TRN Translational R & D team has broad cross-functional discovery and development experience using different therapeutic approaches across multiple therapeutic areas to identify and validate preclinical and clinical biomarkers.

The TRN Translational R & D team can also provide support in the following areas:

Target/pathway expression analysis (gene, protein, miRNA)
Functional validation via knockout, knockdown, or overexpression strategies
Bioinformatics, molecular modeling and systems biology approaches
Target validation using disease-relevant in vitro and in vivo models
Interpreting PK/PD relationships for efficacy and safety assessment
Assessing drug-drug interaction potential and risk mitigation strategies
Formulation selection for POC studies in animals and humans
– Interpretation of toxicology findings and their implications for clinical safety
Human subject selection and clinical study design for initial POC

Utilize the broad therapeutic expertise of the TRN Translational R & D team:

Biology, DMPK, toxicology, preclinical development, clinical pharmacology
Small molecules, biologics and biotherapeutics, novel emerging therapeutic modalities
Oncology, antiviral, respiratory, dermatology, cardiovascular-metabolic diseases

Utilize the TRN Translational R & D team to provide the following support:

Strategic and technical advice to advance discovery leads to assess therapeutic potential
Preparation of early development plans to support IND filings and initial clinical POC
Development of risk assessment plans and risk mitigation strategies to support R & D
Preparation and review of preclinical and clinical reports, and regulatory submissions
Identification and management of CROs to support study-specific outsourcing needs
Integrated project management from late discovery through early clinical development

Biologics & Biotherapeutics

The TRN Biologics and Biotherapeutics (B&B) team can enable all aspects of your biologic reagents and biotherapeutics development programs. Our network of experts has a long and proven track record in the creation of successful biologic drugs, having contributed to the development of numerous approved biopharmaceuticals. They understand the unique challenges in developing biotherapeutics and have an extensive knowledge of standard and new technologies. Whether your needs are simple, such as the development of tool proteins, or complex, such as the creation of biotherapeutic antibodies, our team will help you reach your goals.

The TRN B&B team can be engaged for multiple purposes including:

De novo R&D projects
Integrated management of external vendors
Project consultation
Due diligence to evaluate external assets
Grant preparation

For de novo projects our experts will work with you to understand your objectives and plan your project strategy accordingly. We then source and manage all project activities, maintaining timelines and returning high quality deliverables. Along the way we provide all the biotherapeutics and project management expertise needed to rapidly and efficiently achieve your goals in the most cost effective manner. This provides our clients with budgetary flexibility that comes from not having to establish this expertise internally and allows them to focus precious time and resources on their own core competencies.

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