Transformative Science
Our global drug discovery and early clinical development team lead our work from discovery through to late-stage development across our key therapeutic areas – from idea generation to clinical proof of concept.
We discover new medicines by harnessing:
- A strong focus on disease biology within our therapeutic areas of reproductive medicine and maternal health, gastroenterology, immunology, microbiome-based therapy and uro-oncology
- Emphasis on common platforms, small molecules and biologics
- Mechanistic understanding of dysbiosis and host-microbiome interaction
- Data science and digital technologies
How do we discover new innovative medicines?
The journey from understanding the underlying biology of a disease to the discovery of a new target molecule to the commercialization of a new drug is a long and challenging road.
It begins with screening of many thousands of compounds, peptides or biologics at the drug discovery stage to having 250 compounds left at the pre-clinical development stage. Once the clinical development stage is reached, less than five compounds may remain.
As a scientifically-driven business, we’re continuously strengthening our capabilities and investing in emerging technologies across our scientific areas. These include microbiome-host interactions, artificial intelligence, and gene editing tools to achieve the scientific breakthroughs we aspire to.
Areas that we are exploring
- Artificial intelligence (applications for new target ID, meta-omic data analysis, etc.)
- Target validation and gene editing tools
- New chemical and biological libraries
- Translational microbiome models/tools
A new era of small molecule drug discovery
Our scientists are now focused on discovering and identifying pharmacologically active compounds to build our small molecule pipeline.
Molecular modeling in pharmaceutical research
The application of computer simulation to assist in solving chemical problems
takes place at our HQ in San Diego.
Our scientists are transforming our capabilities with next-generation algorithmic technologies to optimize early drug discovery with small molecules and biotherapeutics.
Their computational chemistry group is the forefront of computer-aided drug discovery technologies to implement innovative methods to further advance Ferring’s drug discovery portfolio.