Optibrium and Lhasa, vendors of software for compound design, selection, and property prediction, have signed an agreement that allows Lhasa's Derek Nexus platform to be offered as an optional plug-in module for Optibrium's StarDrop software.
Lhasa’s Derek Nexus uses data from published and unpublished sources to identify structure-toxicity relationships and alert scientists to the potential for compounds that cause toxicity. Optibrium’s StarDrop uses a probabilistic scoring approach to redesign select candidate compounds that are likely to succeed in drug discovery projects.
The partners said that chemists and toxicologists can use the combined tools to prioritize drug candidates early in the discovery process and reduce the risk of discovering toxicity during the preclinical and clinical phases of development.
The Derek Nexus module predicts whether a compound will cause toxicity based on more than 40 endpoints, including mutagenicity, hepatotoxicity, and cardiotoxicity, they said. Optibrium's StarDrop can then be used to highlight and redesign the problematic region, they said.
The new StarDrop module won't be available until later this year. The partners have not disclosed when that will be.
Financial details of the collaboration are also not being disclosed.