26 Apr Madison biotech introduces drug discovery advance
Madison, Wis. – QBI Life Sciences today announced the release of a product that will allow drug researchers to better work with difficult-to-handle membrane proteins, and perhaps improve the cost effectiveness of drug discovery.
The product, called the Preserve Pro-Screen Pack S1, is an extension of the company’s existing PreserveX line, and it was launched at the annual meeting of the Protein Science Society of Japan in Kyoto, Japan. CEO Ralph Kauten said the latest product in the trademarked PreserveX line will give researchers the ability to isolate, stabilize, and preserve membrane proteins, which can lead to better drug discovery techniques, more accurate results, and more efficiency in the process of drug screening and analysis.
The metrics of drug discovery and development for pharmaceutical companies include enormous costs and considerable amounts of time because many expensive studies are required to achieve a level of comfort with the safety and efficacy of new drugs. Despite the investment of million of dollars, many drugs fail to get market approval.
QBI Life Sciences focuses on membrane proteins because the company believes they are the most important targets for drug discovery. As the drug discovery industry tackles increasingly complex diseases, Kauten believes research with membrane proteins will continue to move to the center of pharmaceutical research. “It is estimated that 70 percent of all approved drugs deliver a therapeutic response by binding to a membrane protein, yet many of the laboratory procedures developed to discover drugs do not work effectively with membrane proteins,” he said. “We’re changing that.”
Potential applications for the PreserveX line include assay development, high throughput screening, and membrane protein characterization.