Schrödinger’s drug discovery pipeline utilizes a unique physics-based platform that leverages a deep understanding of physics, chemistry and predictive modeling to accelerate compound design. This allows us to deliver high-quality, safe and novel molecules more rapidly, and we believe with a higher likelihood of success compared to traditional methods. Access to the UK Biobank deep genetic and patient phenotyping information will help aid Schrodinger identify underserved patient populations that require new and more effective medicines. In addition, given the fact that targets that are supported by genetic evidence are more likely to succeed in human clinical trials, we have the opportunity to greatly improve on the quality of targets in our pipeline by incorporating human genetics evidence and analysis. Human genetic data, combined with systems biology, will offer gene-target prioritization, population identification and biological de-risking to the molecular modeling platform that enables precision targeting of protein sites. Schrödinger’s industry leading molecular modeling platform will allow us to explore the intersection of in-silico functional prediction of SNP impact and SNP implicated by population-based genetic studies.
Here, we propose a unique drug discovery pipeline integrating multidisciplinary efforts including human genetics, proteomics, clinical biology, medicinal chemistry, and computational chemistry to develop highly selective therapeutics with minimal off-target effects. GWAS or deleterious variant enrichment tests using the UK Biobank genetic, proteomic and clinical data will be used for nominating novel targets or validating existing targets.
Drug candidates will undergo intensive follow up with teams of biologists and chemists to determine its potential as a drug target and for us to initiate a new drug discovery program. If the target is attractive from a therapeutic and technology compatibility point-of-view, computational chemists will use Schrödinger’s physics-based platform to identify and subsequently refine suitable compounds for entry into human clinical trials. We will simultaneously evaluate the genetic basis of the target and predict drug safety for the proposed compound based on UK Biobank genetics data and electronic health record data.