A high-performance screen (HTS) is handy to researchers as it helps to classify a

good selection of active compounds that can influence a particular metabolic path-

way of interest and, consequently, can move to an essential pipeline for discovery

and validation. As a result, it’s been commonly used in the early phases of drug

production for a long time. HTS robotics is used in two situations: first, where the

drug’s target is unidentified and phenotype screening is needed. Second, it’s used for

target-based screening, in which researchers attempt to alter the action of a known

protein of interest by activating or inhibiting it. HTS robotics can speed up the

process of drug discovery through automated screening. Similarly, mass spectrome-

try (MS) is a technique that uses observations of interactions between small-

molecule proteins to detect the smaller molecules more thoroughly. MS and

fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) work as a powerful tool in discovering

drugs at initial points.

Along with MS, many other techniques for FBDD are surface plasmon resonance

(SPR), X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and isothermal

titration calorimetry (ITC). Through the FBDD technique, tiny molecules

(fragments), about half in size than the size of standard drugs, are recognized and

then spread or joined together to produce drug leads. Magnetic resonance mass

spectrometry (MRMS) was earlier known as Fourier transform mass spectrometry

(FTMS). This technology’s fragmented screening capabilities are improved many

folds (Sally-Ann Poulsen, Professor of Chemical Biology, Griffith Institute for Drug

Discovery (GRIDD), Griffith University, 2019).

1.7

Heading Toward Precision Medicines (PM) Through

Innovation and New Technologies

The frequent and everyday use of companion diagnostics (CDX) and biomarkers

(BMs) has the capability of shifting from empirical medicine to precision medicine

(PM) (Steensberg and Simons 2015; Seyhan and Carini 2014). Precision medicine is

designed according to the individual patient’s genetics or biochemistry, which relies

on measurements of particular, objectively quantifiable biomarkers in patient

samples to match treatments. Biomarkers may be predictive, prognostic, or both

for each specific disease. In precision medicines, treatment is provided only to

patients who have compatible chemistry for that particular drug, thus avoiding the

stress in noncompatible patients taking non-required treatments and getting any

potential toxic side effects. It thus also helps in saving high costs related to such

treatments. The efficacy of precision medicines is proved by their ability to treat the

diseases such as cancer and autoimmune conditions, which remained unresponsive

to traditional therapies. Novartis developed a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, also called

Gleevec (imatinib). It is an excellent example of the success of precision medicine.

Patients who were suffering from chronic myeloid leukemia were treated with

Gleevec as a first-line treatment. Their survival rate was enhanced by 83.3% as

they lived for 10 more years as compared to the 43–65% survival rate with earlier

treatments.

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R. C. Sobti et al.