RGDscience Ltd
The RGDscience team consults for life-science clients and academia in drug discovery and medicinal chemistry. With over 100 years big pharma and biotech experience, we they have successfully advanced projects for clients globally across a wide range of therapeutic targets and modalities.
Skills
About
Having delivered multiple candidates to the clinic and been cited as inventors of over 100 patents and over 200 high impact papers, we are well-placed to advise on all aspects of drug discovery and medicinal chemistry. In particular we have:
- Extensive experience and working knowledge of preclinical drug discovery and medicinal chemistry – from hit ID to candidate selection/ IND submission
- Informative data analysis and scientific insight that underpins creative design of high-quality molecules
- An ability to troubleshoot apparently intractable drug discovery problems and propose multiple practical solutions
- Thoughtful and sound scientific judgement to guide project progression and maximise use of resources
- An extensive UK and global network leading to successful scientific and drug discovery collaborations and knowledge enhancement
Introducing our scientific expert team
Richard Hatley MChem, DPhil, MRSC, CChem
- Long track record of synthetic chemistry problem solving and medicinal chemistry expertise across numerous preclinical drug discovery programs
- Expertise in generation of new hit chemical matter, lead identification strategies and data analysis
- Progression of small molecules to the clinic through MPO lead optimisation
- Co-founder of two companies, navigation of VC collaborations, experience in large pharma, academia, and smaller biotech industries
Diane Coe B.Sc (Hons), PhD, FRSC
- Fulbright Scholarship Awardee and highly respected scientist serving on numerous prestigious review panels and advisory boards
- Deep “Hit to Lead” expertise including HTS screening and DEL libraries
- Broad experience of successfully leading Lead Optimization projects and delivering clinical candidates
- Extensive expertise in every aspect of patent preparation – for example in collaborating with Patent Attorneys to compile new patent applications
Andy Mason B.Sc (Hons)
- Extensive computational and modelling skills to accelerate lead optimization and drug discovery
- AI-enabled drug discovery and retrosynthesis approaches
- Peptide drug discovery and due diligence
- Experienced leader in GMP compliant API manufacturing
Simon Macdonald B.Sc (Hons), MSc, PhD
- Wide-ranging leadership experience of multi-disciplinary and cross-institution teams
- Record for delivering successful collaborations
- Exceptional ability to identify and operationalize fundable scientific opportunities
- Has held multiple academic positions at UK/US universities
For more information, visit www.rgdscience.com.
Work experience
Education
Publications
Case STUDIES
Hit ID strategies including DEL library & virtual library screening
Our real-life hard-won experience in Hit ID strategies includes selecting the most suitable technique for identifying hit compounds for modulating the target. For example, a DEL library screen was recommended and run to obtain hit start points. For a different target, a virtual screen of billions of compounds was carried out to identify hits. These have been invaluable to numerous clients by advancing their projects. We provided technical support for development of the screening cascade to streamline conversion of hits into leads and to guide the triage process for identifying drug-like hits with confirmed activity.
Due diligence for potential biotech purchase
The client required rapid due diligence on a potential biotech purchase. After an on-site visit and interviews with the biotech directors and lead scientists, we prepared a detailed report alongside a presentation that informed a high-value decision.
Starting a company and fundraising
Our experience as founders of three companies, successfully raising venture capital investment and recruiting employees, means we have been well placed to both mentor and advise on building new start-ups. Our knowledge of the infrastructure needed has meant clients are able to focus predominantly on the science and raising funds.
Computational and AI-enabled molecule design
We successfully collaborated with a client on the design of ligands for a protein target applying structure-based-design approaches, predicting the binding and estimating the relative potencies of novel ligands. As a result, a huge number compounds were triaged. Less than twenty were actually synthesised which provided multiple active drug-like leads for the project.
Data driven and ruled based drug discovery for CNS penetrant molecules
We successfully delivered orally bioavailable CNS penetrant molecules for the client based on a systematic analysis of the data in a resource efficient manner for a bespoke chemotype. From this, we developed design rules which enabled robust predictions of compound properties for CNS penetration which correlated with in vivo data. This significantly advanced the program saving time and resources by reducing the number of molecules that had to made.
