Every now and then I’ll read that drug X was originally created searching for a cure to disease A, but then they find out its a cure for B instead. How do scientists set out to design a chemical that does specific things? And is it just by chance they discover that it helps with, say, erectile dysfunction and market it that way? Especially when the addition of one atom can seemingly vastly change molecule properties.
In: Chemistry
Look up the concept called “pharmacophore.” Essentially, molecules interact with receptors based on their chemical “shape” — the distribution of charges, the way the individual atoms on the molecules interact with their environments, etc. Researchers can tell a computer that they need this specific “shape” or pharmacophore to interact with a certain receptor, and the computer will come up with a list of molecules that will “fit.” Then the researchers synthesize the molecules and test them. The whole process is called “drug discovery” and it’s quite fascinating.
Additionally, sometimes they will come up with a molecular “shape” that is designed to interact with one receptor in a specific way, but it will end up also interacting with a different receptor, maybe one they weren’t thinking it would. The new molecule would have what they call “off-target effects” but sometimes those other effects turn out to be more useful than the original effects they were after, or useful for a different thing. They’ll then take that molecule and tweak it more to make it have more effect at the “off” target, or possibly to have less activity at the original target.
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