COMSTECH, in partnership with H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry and International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi, is hosting a two-day online meeting on recent developments in drug discovery and medicinal chemistry. The event will feature eleven one-hour presentations on the latest developments in drug discovery and medicinal chemistry from specialists from the United States, China, Turkey, and Pakistan.
In his inaugural remarks, Prof. Dr. M. Iqbal Choudhary, Coordinator General of COMSTECH, stated that this event is a continuation of COMSTECH’s varied efforts over the last year and a half. Prof. Choudhary stated that capacity building is a critical factor that must be developed in order for technology to be absorbed and used.
Medicinal chemistry, he continued, has been an important subject throughout history, beginning with the synthesis of medications from natural sources. It was created as a technique for creating massive amounts of chemical space, expanding it for high-throughput screening, and combinatorial chemistry to make use of the new space created by medicinal chemistry.
Prof. Choudhary stated that medicinal chemistry has progressed and taken on a new form and scale. It has developed into a multidisciplinary science, and we now have a better understanding of many diseases at the molecular level, with the molecular target becoming the primary focus of medicine. Medicinal chemists are increasingly researching therapeutic targets for various diseases and developing compounds to treat them.
He claims that today’s medicinal chemistry is built on target and designing structures that are compatible with molecular drug targets, and that this has given the field a new phase and reason. Prof. Choudhary stated that according to the World Health Organization, there are 650 medications in the development pipeline, and that medicinal chemists will be able to architect new entities that could cure COVID19 within a year or two, which he hoped would be a big solution to COVID19.
Eight talks were given on the first day of the gathering. Researchers, scientists, and academics from all over the OIC member states participated in the gathering through the internet. Physical involvement was not permitted due to the recent COVID19 rise.
Source: technologytimes
