Dennis Hu

2019 Small Molecule Drug Approvals

Cheat Sheets, Highlights / By

2019 was another big year for drug discovery, with 29 FDA novel drug approvals for small molecules[note]Including istradefylline which was first approved in Japan, but not including brilliant blue G, fluorodopa F18, Ga-68-DOTATOC, bremelanotide, afamelanotide, and ferric maltol, which could all be considered small molecules by some definitions: https://www.fda.gov/drugs/new-drugs-fda-cders-new-molecular-entities-and-new-therapeutic-biological-products/novel-drug-approvals-2019[/note] and 3 for antibody-drug-conjugates so far.[note]The …

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Unusual Molecular Interactions from the PDB

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Protein-ligand interactions are driven predominantly by strong hydrogen-bonding interactions, de-solvation energetics, and other entropic considerations including ligand lipophilicity. However, the combination of many weaker interactions can contribute to potency, and are often necessary to obtain selectivity when targets and anti-targets have very similar binding pockets. Weak interactions such as Dunitz interactions, polarized C-H hydrogen bonding …

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A Polarized C-H···O Interaction Against IRAK4

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The C-H — O hydrogen bond is so well established in structural biology today, that it’s been overlooked that the C-H — O hydrogen bond was first proposed by a woman, June Sutor, in a 1960’s Nature article.[note]Sutor, D. J. “The C-H … O Hydrogen Bond in Crystals.” Nature, 1962, 195, 68-69. https://www.nature.com/articles/195068a0.pdf[/note]  Her commentary …

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