Drug Candidates Debut

Medicinal chemists converged on San Diego for this spring’s American Chemical Society national meeting. They packed a ballroom to see the public debut of five drug candidate structures and hear the tales behind their discovery.

The presentations composed the Division of Medicinal Chemistry’s traditional “First Time Disclosures” session, which was supported by Gilead Sciences and organized by Albert J. Robichaud, chief scientific officer of Cambridge, Mass.-based Sage Therapeutics.

“In this time of tumult and uncertainty in the pharmaceutical world it is encouraging to see that scientists and drug discovery groups are still driving value for their organizations,” Robichaud told C&EN. “This session is an excellent example of the quality work that continues to come from the research teams of many of these companies that have experienced significant change.”