TeraDiscoveries and Microsoft this week announced a partnership under which Microsoft will provide support and cloud computing time on its Windows Azure platform, which TeraDiscoveries will use to identify inhibitors of 25 biological targets.
Specifically, TeraDiscoveries will use its Inverse Design computational modeling software running on the Azure platform to mine virtual chemical libraries to find the strongest inhibitors of specific biological targets that have good clinical trial properties and have a low probability of toxic side effects, the company said.
Ed Addison, TeraDiscoveries CEO, said in statement that the partnership with Microsoft provides a more efficient and cost-effective approach for searching the chemical space than traditional methods offer.
He added that the arrangement will enable the company to forge partnerships with smaller pharmaceutical or medical research companies who are interested in further developing these molecules.
These companies can purchase licenses to Inverse Design and run it on Azure as part of their efforts to design, discover, or optimize new small molecule or peptide drugs for their targets, TeraDiscoveries said. The company also offers drug discovery services.