Seoul, S.Korea, February 6, 2009 -- Institut Pasteur Korea together with LGLS have for the first time successfully used an entirely visual approach to identify new drug candidates in the area of thrombosis.

IP-K’s proprietary PhenomicScreen™ visual screening technology accelerates the drug discovery process, increases the robustness of drug candidates and constitutes a systematic way of identifying new drug targets.

The successful achievement of crucial milestones in the collaboration with LGLS now demonstrates that PhenomicScreen™ is effective in the complex reality of chronic disease models such as the cardiovascular thrombosis area. Hitherto, IP-K has successfully used this novel approach only in the area of infectious diseases.

Concretely, IP-K and LGLS researchers have studied the spatial intracellular positioning of a receptor protein, PAR1, which is crucial in the blood clotting process. In the assay, which was performed in live cells, a fluorescent-labeled receptor of interest was exposed to a library of small molecules, and the effect of each small molecule on positioning of the receptor was measured over a multi-hour time period.

IP-K and LGLS researchers were thus able to identify small chemicals that prevented PAR1 from assuming its normal location at the surface of the cell. LGLS researchers were then able to show in a secondary independent biological activity assay, that these compounds do in fact prevent blot clotting. These compounds are amenable to medicinal chemistry, possess novel structures, and serve as exciting starting points for further drug development.

IP-K and LGLS are now discussing other disease areas, where collaboration could hasten the development of innovative drugs “made in Korea”.