Lead: A representative of a compound series with sufficient potential (as measured by potency, selectivity, pharmacokinetics, physicochemical properties, absence of toxicity and novelty) to progress into a full drug development program. 

Lead Discovery: The process of identifying active new chemical entities, which by subsequent modification may be transformed into a clinically useful drug. The large number of leads emerging from genomics and combinatorial chemistry demands that a new paradigm of lead optimization must be found. This new paradigm demands that companies move to parallel processes that evaluate binding affinity, ADME (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion), drug properties earlier in the process in order to cut the time and costs lost in failed leads. Combinatorial chemistry techniques are used in which sets of reactions, for solution or solid- phase synthesis, are used to create molecular libraries for analysis of compounds on a large scale.

Lead Validation: With no shortage of drug targets, increasing emphasis is being placed on lead validation. One key challenge is developing high throughput screens. High Throughput Screening is a process for rapid assessment of the activity of samples from a combinatorial library or other compound collection, often by running parallel assays. High Throughput Screening remains the predominant tool for identifying leads for further drug development.

Drug Discovery/Lead Identification Research Services that can be outsourced on CanBiotech include:

Chemistry
  Biochemistry
  Combinatorial Chemistry/Library Development
  Drug Synthesis
  Organic Chemical Synthesis

Drug Development
  Discovery
  Efficacy Studies
  Formulation
  Screening
  Synthesis
  Toxicology Studies

Peptide/Protein Services
  Peptide Synthesis
  Protein Conjugation
  Protein Purification & Analysis
  Recombinant Protein Expression