Conference Reports
233rd American Chemical Society National Meeting
Chicago, IL. 25th-29th March, 2007.
The 'windy city' played host to this year's American Chemical Society Spring meeting for the first time in six years, and with over 12,000 attendees spread across over a dozen hotels and the McCormick Place Convention Center, Chicago was seemingly brimming with scientists. Covering over 30 different technical disciplines in over 9,000 presentations, the large-scale meeting was topically diverse, with the overarching theme dedicated to the current 'hot' topic in science - the sustainability of energy, food and water. Not to be overshadowed, the medicinal chemistry division also added some very interesting offerings to the programme.
The meeting began with an informative session on fragment-based drug discovery, a relatively novel but increasingly popular technique for both lead candidate discovery and optimization. However, it was the highly anticipated presentation grouping entitled "First time disclosure of clinical candidates", that seemed to take the limelight for the day. Eager chemists listened intently as the top pharma companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Bristol-Myers Squibb, revealed a whole host of novel drug candidates. Pfizer, for example, provided information on its dual serotonin/noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor PF-184298, currently in Phase I trials for stress urinary incontinence. Also reported was the progression of Merck & Co's calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor antagonist, MK-0974, into Phase III trials, and the announcement that an NDA filing is planned for 2009.
Sunday evening saw the first of two extensive poster sessions planned for the week. Hosted at the Hyatt Regency Hotel's Riverside Center, the session proved to be an enjoyable yet bustling affair, combining scientific discussion and informal chit-chat, with the added help of free-flowing champagne. Two posters generating substantial attention were those describing Abbott's work on selective Chk1 inhibitors as potential anticancer agents, and TargeGen's JAK2 inhibitors, currently in preclinical development for haematological indications and cancer.
The following few days were filled with an abundance of oral presentations covering wide-ranging chemical disciplines. Monday's agenda was dominated by parallel sessions covering kinesin spindle protein inhibitors and the development of marketed drugs in academic labs. Cytokinetics gave an interesting insight into its pipeline data, and was followed by an update from Merck & Co on its kinesin inhibitor project, and the disclosure of structural data for BMS's BMS-46611, both of which are currently in preclinical development for cancer.
Tuesday's theme was metabolic disease, covering methods to increase high density lipoprotein cholesterol and emerging targets for the treatment of Type II diabetes. Arena gave an informative presentation, disclosing its series of GPR-10a agonists, under development for the treatment of atherosclerosis. It was followed by afternoon sessions by Incyte Corporation, which revealed Phase II trial results for its selective 11β- HSD-1 inhibitor INCB-13739, and Abbott, which introduced two novel targets for its metabolic disease division, with presentations describing work on stearoyl- CoA desaturase-1 and acetyl CoA carboxylase 2 inhibitors for the treatment of Type II diabetes.
A plethora of oral presentations and plenary sessions continued throughout the closing days of the conference, with the medicinal chemistry stream offering an expanse of breaking information; highlights included oral sessions delving into the chemistry of ion channels/voltage-gated channels and their association with pain. Neuromed Pharmaceuticals disclosed the structure of its N-type calcium channel blocker NP-078585 for the first time, and Merck & Co provided further lead candidate details for its sodium channel blocker programme. Both projects are in preclinical development as analgesics for neuropathic pain.
A second evening poster session drew the conference to a close, and with delegate numbers showing no signs of dwindling, the hustle and bustle of eager scientists ensured an excellent end to this year's Spring ACS. Despite the late timing of the session, offerings from Chong Kun Dang describing the clinical development of its insulin-sensitizing glitazone analogue (CKD-501) and Wyeth's poster disclosing the chemical structure data for its liver X receptor (LXR) modulators, amongst others, were not overlooked.
The enormous amount of enthusiasm and expertise on display at this large-scale multidisciplinary meeting highlighted the ongoing importance of chemistry across many academic and practical fields. Medicinally, it seems that even in a field seemingly dominated by the progression of biotechnology, chemistry has maintained a vital role in the development of new pharmaceuticals. With the efforts of the ACS, the continued development of novel drug candidates for broad therapeutic usage looks positive.
The 234th ACS meeting will be held in Boston, MA, on 19th - 25th August, 2007.
Michelle Jenvey
Pharmaprojects Analyst
Image courtesy of the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau.
