e-Therapeutics opens new UK drug discovery centre

Newcastle, UK-based e-Therapeutics has opened a new drug discovery facility in Long Hanborough, near Oxford.

The Network Pharmacology Centre will focus on searching for novel treatments for cancer and degenerative diseases of the nervous system.

The Centre was officially declared open by the Prime Minister, David Cameron.

He said: “e-Therapeutics is a fascinating and innovative business in my constituency. Their use of pioneering science has the potential to deliver great results and I very much hope that their treatments are successful.”

Professor Malcolm Young, founder and CEO of e-Therapeutics, said: “We are delighted to have the Prime Minister open our new drug discovery centre near Oxford, which is a world centre of excellence in the science that underpins our business.”

e-Therapeutics says its work in 'network pharmacology', which combines advances in chemical biology and network science, has the potential to produce new and improved treatments for complex diseases.

It involves applying network analysis to determine the set of proteins most critical in any disease, and then using chemical biology techniques to identify molecules capable of targeting that set of proteins.

During 2012 e-Therapeutics plans to advance four drugs derived from network pharmacology research into clinical trials.

These include potential treatments for cancer, major depressive disorder and resistant bacterial infections.