Physicochemical Properties of Drugs
Understanding the intricate interplay of physicochemical properties stands as a pivotal factor influencing the intricate balance between a drug’s pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profile. These properties emerge as a cornerstone, driving the potential to elevate the triumph of drug candidates during the crucial preclinical development process.
Several well-documented unfavourable physicochemical properties of pharmaceutical compounds can exert significant effects on Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics (DMPK) as well as drug safety considerations:
- Impaired Solubility, Stability, and Permeability: Poor solubility, chemical stability, or permeability can result in diminished absorption within the gastrointestinal tract, subsequently leading to a decline in oral bioavailability. This may hinder the effectiveness of a drug and its ability to attain the necessary exposure levels crucial for supporting preclinical safety assessments.
- Elevated Lipophilicity and Associated Consequences: High lipophilicity has been correlated with increased plasma protein binding, non-specific binding tendencies, and potential off-target toxicities.
At Sygnature Discovery, we deeply comprehend the significance of meticulously designing favourable physicochemical properties for every lead series. The strategic design of compounds with optimal drug-like properties plays an instrumental role in circumventing the resource-intensive challenges of Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, and Excretion (ADME) during both preclinical and clinical developmental phases.
Predicting Physicochemical Properties of Drugs
Our computational chemistry group can predict the physicochemical properties of drugs that are useful for the design of appropriate hit expansion libraries and during lead optimisation. The profiling of physicochemical properties of compounds from your different chemical series is usually performed within hit-to-lead or lead optimisation phases of discovery to identify hit clusters with properties to help guide series selection and/or series optimisation.
At Sygnature we offer state-of-the-art determination of the following physicochemical parameters: