Abstract

CADD: PHARMACOLOGICAL APPROACHES IN DRUG DESIGN AND DRUG DISCOVERY

Dr. Siju E. N.*, Dr. G. R. Rajalakshmi, Anu P. Paulose, Fathima T., Dhanya P. P., Dr. N. Hariraj and K. Rahul

ABSTRACT

The objective of drug design is to find a chemical compound that can fit to a specific cavity on a protein target both geometrically and chemically. It is generally recognized that drug discovery and development are time and resources consuming processes. All the world‟s major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies use computational design tools. At their lowest level the contributions represent the replacement of crude mechanical models by displays of structure which are a much more accurate reflection of molecular reality, capable of demonstrating motion and solvent effects. In recent years, the field of computer-aided drug design (CADD) has grown rapidly, enhancing our understanding of complex biological processes and protein-ligand interactions. CADD can predict experimental results with reasonable accuracy and reduced time, cost and equipment.

Keywords: Bioinformatics, CADD, molecular modeling, docking.