Cresset BioMolecular Discovery Launches FieldStere

Cresset BioMolecular Discovery Ltd (Cresset) announces today the launch of FieldStere, a new software product that enables medicinal chemists to enrich their shortlist of drug candidates with structurally diverse compounds that share the same desired biological activity (bioisosteres). FieldStere allows the fine-tuning of the resulting bioisosteres to enhance potency and specificity whilst removing undesirable ADME and physical properties.

The new FieldStere product builds on Cresset’s proprietary Field technology, which describes chemical structures in terms of the surface properties of the whole molecule. These determine, much more accurately than existing tools, how a compound will interact with other molecules.

FieldStere was developed at the request of Cresset’s clients. “Our clients recognised the potential of our Field technology in a range of areas such as lead optimisation, candidate switching, compound evaluation and investigation of new patent opportunities around existing therapeutics,” said Bea Leigh, CEO of Cresset. “In pre-launch testing with existing biotech and pharmaceutical customers, FieldStere performed outstandingly well and received very positive feedback. Users reported that the product consistently identified both known bioisosteres and non-obvious, structurally diverse compounds.”

These non-obvious compounds increase the medicinal chemistry repertoire and can represent novel product opportunities unprotected by existing patents. As a result, FieldStere has application in the development of patent strategy for the protection of new molecular entities, identifying follow-on compounds as marketed products come off patent and lead optimisation of new drugs.

“In today’s climate, FieldStere is a promising new tool that allows me to rapidly identify novel chemistry to solve biological problems, and offers a potential route to open up new therapeutic opportunities” commented Dr. Caroline Low, Head of Molecular Modeling and CADD at the Drug Discovery Centre, Imperial College, London.

FieldStere will be sold through Cresset’s sales operations and offered as part of a leveraged service offering to companies that need to access specialist chemistry services.