Mission
A-CUBE utilizes in silico algorithms and bioinformatics (genomics and proteomics) to discover novel druggable targets suitable for developing human therapeutic interventions, including next generation drugs for commercially proven targets.The pharmaceutical industry has entered a difficult phase of slowed growth, lower rates of finding new drug targets, reduced new drug launches, increased number of required clinical trials, and longer development cycles. Moreover, it has faced an unprecedented patent cliff in recent years. The number of discrete drug targets for all approved therapeutic drugs is only about 1,400 molecules for the 1,120 or so FDA approved drug products (excluding the ~3,000 experimental drugs in various stages of development). Overall, the percentage of the potentially druggable human genome penetrated is below 4%. Of these, Rhodopsin-Like GPCRs represent about 27% of the total drug targets.
Clearly, the pharmaceutical industry has a large unmet need, namely, the identification of novel druggable sites (including on proven targets) that may have improved efficacy and reduced side effects. This is the focus of A-CUBE.