Victorian College of Pharmacy Research

Preclinical lead optimisation

Preclinical drug candidate optimisation has become an essential component of modern drug discovery and plays a critical role in compound selection and progression. Drug candidate optimisation integrates medicinal chemistry and pharmacology with the pharmaceutical sciences and  provides a means of  identifying drug candidates with the necessary chemical, biopharmaceutical, and pharmacokinetic properties to enable rapid and successful development. Inherent in this process is the need to relate specific chemical properties of candidate compounds to their absorption, distribution, metabolism and clearance characteristics and to utilize this information in a predictive manner. Early identification of the likely basis for poor pharmaceutical properties is critical to the development of appropriate strategies to overcome these problems, whether it be through compound selection, further structural modification, or the early implementation of aggressive development programs.

For more information, refer to the Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation (CDCO)