Lead compounds drug discovery companies

Profile Acacia Bioscience is a functional genomics and drug discovery company using advances in genome science and combinatorial chemistry to identify potential lead compounds with higher degrees of therapeutic value. 

After the discovery of a new lead compound, a pharmaceutical company needs samples (typically, in the gram to kilogram range) of the development drug for the first clinical tests, and shortly afterward, an economical and environmentally acceptable method of synthesis for the production of larger quantities. The corresponding activity is indicated as Lead Dev. in the drug development added-value chain (see the upper line in Fig. 25.9). It precedes manufacture of the NCE for clinical trials. 

A number of pharmaceutical companies are working to develop drugs that will block the marijuana high sought by the world s estimated 144 million regular marijuana users. In 1988, researchers identified the receptors in the brain to which the marijuana molecule attaches. Named Cannabinoid Receptor l (CBl), it became the site of intensive scientific research, subsequently leading to the discovery that the brain naturally produces several compounds that fit the CBl receptors. One of these natural compounds was named anandamide from ananda, the Sanskrit word for bliss. ... 

---