Pharmaceuticals

An inactive ingredient is any component of a drug product other than the active ingredient. Inactive ingredients are added during the manufacturing process of pharmaceutical products such as tablets, capsules, suppositories, and injections. In new drug development, once an inactive ingredient has appeared in an approved drug product for a particular route of administration, the inactive ingredient is not considered new and may require a less extensive review the next time it is included in a new drug product.

MCE offers a unique collection of 174 inactive ingredients, which only contain inactive ingredients of the final dosage forms of the drug. MCE Inactive Ingredient library is a powerful tool for aiding in the development of the drug and saving unnecessary time.

Membrane receptors, also known cell surface receptors or transmembrane receptors, are transmembrane proteins embedded into the plasma membrane which play an essential role in maintaining communication between the internal processes within the cell and various types of extracellular signals. They act in cell signaling by receiving (binding to) extracellular molecules, which are also called ligands. These extracellular molecules include hormones, cytokines, growth factors, neurotransmitters, lipophilic signaling molecules such as prostaglandins, and cell recognition molecules.

There are three kinds of membrane receptors: ion channel-linked receptors, enzyme-linked receptors and G-protein-linked receptors. They play important roles in keeping human normal physiologic processes. GPCRs and ion channels are important drug targets in drug discovery.

MCE provides a unique collection of 4,892 compounds targeting a variety of membrane receptors. MCE Membrane reeptor-targeted Compound Library can be used for membrane receptor-focused screening and drug discovery.

A membrane protein is a protein molecule that is attached to or associated with the membrane of a cell or an organelle. Membrane proteins can be classified into two groups based on how the protein is associated with the membrane: integral membrane proteins and peripheral membrane proteins. In humans, about 30% genome encodes membrane proteins. Membrane proteins perform a variety of functions vital to the survival of organisms, for example, signal transduction, molecules or ion transportation, enzymatic catalysis, and intercellular communication. Membrane proteins also play important roles in drug discovery. As reported, more than 60% of current drug targets are membrane proteins.

MCE supplies a unique collection of 7,194 compounds targeting a variety of membrane proteins. MCE Membrane Protein-targeted Compound Library can be used for membrane protein-focused screening and drug discovery.

Boric acid is a stable and usually non-toxic group widely used in modern synthesis to form C-C and C-heteroatom bonds. Boric acid exhibits exquisite reversible coordination characteristics and can be explored as a molecular construction tool, with specific mechanisms for controlling the structure and biological characteristics of bioconjugates. Boric acid has various activities, such as anticancer, antibacterial, and antiviral activities. In drugs, boric acid mainly exists in the form of arylboronic acid. In addition to this form, heterocycles containing boric acid, such as pyridine, pyrrole, and indole derivatives, are also very useful in pharmaceutical chemistry. Molecular modification by introducing boric acid groups into bioactive molecules has been shown to alter selectivity, physicochemical, and pharmacokinetic characteristics, and improve existing activity.

MCE designs a unique collection of 147 boronic acid compounds. It is a good tool to be used for research on cancer and other diseases.

Alkaloids are a large and complex group of cyclic compounds that contain N. About 2,000 different alkaloids have been isolated. Important alkaloids include morphine, strychnine, atropine, colchicine, ephedrine, quinine, and nicotine. Alkaloids are useful as diet ingredients, supplements, and pharmaceuticals, in medicine and in other applications in human life. They showed anti-inflammatory, anticancer, analgesics, local anesthetic and pain relief, neuropharmacologic, antimicrobial, antifungal, and many other activities. Alkaloids are also important compounds in organic synthesis for searching new semisynthetic and synthetic compounds with possibly better biological activity than parent compounds.

MCE designs a unique collection of 555 alkaloids that all come from natural products. MCE Alkaloids Library is a useful tool for drug discovery that can be used for high throughput screening (HTS) and high content screening (HCS).

The health benefits deriving from the consumption of certain foods have been common knowledge. All foods are made up of chemical substances. Chemicals in foods are largely harmless and often desirable. At present, numerous researchers have been focused on the beneficial role played by certain food components in the close relationship between food intake and health status. For example, polyphenols, a common class of compounds among foods, are well-known antioxidants, which may play a role in the prevention of several diseases including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and some types of cancer.

MCE supplies a unique collection of 2,008 compounds from variety of foods. All compounds are with specific food source(s). MCE Food-Sourced Compound Library is the useful tool to discover molecules with pharmaceutical activity from foods.

The incidence and significance of central nervous system diseases are increasing at an alarming rate all over the world. Although substantial research efforts have been applied to develop new CNS-active drugs, only a few CNS disorders are addressed satisfactorily, while the remaining ones pose significant clinical challenges. Blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability is one of the most important limiting factors in the design and development of novel CNS-targeted pharmaceuticals for the treatment of neurological disorders.

Carefully selected from the HTS Compound Collection to meet the parameters optimized for high BBB-permeability, our CNS Focused Screening Library comprising over 30,300 structurally-diverse and potentially CNS-active screening compounds. This original Screening Compound Library is aimed at supporting CNS drug design projects and HTS efforts in search for novel neurotherapeutics.

Unlike the 20 natural amino acids commonly found within living organisms, unnatural amino acids are synthesized through chemical or biosynthetic methods, thereby being endowed with unique chemical properties or biological activities. In drug development, these amino acids can be utilized to design novel pharmaceutical molecules that may exhibit superior pharmacological characteristics, such as increased selectivity, improved pharmacokinetic profiles, or reduced toxicity. In biomedical research, unnatural amino acids can act as biological markers or probes for investigating biological processes like cell signaling, protein conformation, and protein-protein interactions. In addition, non-natural amino acids can also be used in the field of agriculture to develop new pesticides, plant growth regulators and so on.

MCE included 126 unnatural amino acids and relative derivatives, serving as valuable tools for drug development and pesticide research.

Nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB)/Rel proteins include NF-κB2 p52/p100, NF-κB1 p50/p105, c-Rel, RelA/p65, and RelB. These proteins function as dimeric transcription factors that regulate the expression of genes and influence a broad range of biological processes including innate and adaptive immunity, inflammation, stress responses, B-cell development, and lymphoid organogenesis. NF-κB plays a key role in regulating the immune response to infection. In addition, activation of the NF-κB pathway is involved in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory diseases, such as asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease. Incorrect regulation of NF-κB has been linked to cancer, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, septic shock, viral infection, and improper immune development.

MCE owns a unique collection of 870 small molecule compounds that can be used in the research of NF-κB signaling pathway or high throughput screening (HTS) related drug discovery.

5-HT receptors, also called Serotonin receptors, are a group of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and ligand-gated ion channels (LGICs) found in the central and peripheral nervous systems. These receptors are now classified into seven families, 5-HT1–7, comprising a total of 14 structurally and pharmacologically distinct mammalian 5-HT receptor subtypes. The 5-HT receptors influence various biological and neurological processes such as aggression, anxiety, appetite, cognition, learning, memory, mood, nausea, sleep, andthermoregulation. The serotonin receptors are the target of a variety of pharmaceutical drugs, including many antidepressants, antipsychotics, anorectics, antiemetics, gastroprokinetic agents, antimigraine agents, hallucinogens, and entactogens.

MCE 5-HT Receptor Compound Library consists of 317 5-HT receptor inhibitors and activators, which can be used for neuropsychiatric disorders drugs discovery.

Flavonoids are an important class of natural products; particularly, they belong to a class of plant secondary metabolites having a polyphenolic structure, widely found in fruits, vegetables and certain beverages. Flavonoids can be subdivided into different subgroups depending on the carbon of the C ring on which the B ring is attached and the degree of unsaturation and oxidation of the C ring. These subgroups are: flavones, flavonols, flavanones, flavanonols, flavanols or catechins, anthocyanins and chalcones. Flavonoids are now considered as an indispensable component in a variety of nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, medicinal and cosmetic applications. This is attributed to their anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, anti-mutagenic and anti-carcinogenic properties coupled with their capacity to modulate key cellular enzyme function. Naturally occurring flavonoids are known to have biological activities for use as drugs, for example, in diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), atherosclerosis, etc.

MCE offers a unique collection of 516 natural flavonoid compounds which is a useful tool for drug discovery as an important source of lead compounds.

Adult stem cells are important for tissue homeostasis and regeneration due to their ability to self-renew and generate multiple types of differentiated daughters. Self-renewal is reflected by their capacity to undergo multiple/limitless divisions. Several signaling pathways are involved in self-renewal of stem cells, that is, Notch, Wnt, and Hedgehog pathways or Polycomb family proteins. Recent studies mainly focus on cancer stem cell (CSCs), induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSCs), neural stem cell and maintenance of embryonic stem cell pluripotency. Among them, CSCs have been believed to be responsible for tumor initiation, growth, and recurrence that have implications for cancer therapy.

MCE owns a unique collection of 1,870 compounds that can be used for stem cell regulatory and signaling pathway research.

The immune system is a host defense system comprising many biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease. To function properly, an immune system must detect a wide variety of agents, known as pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, and distinguish them from the organism's own healthy tissue. Inflammation is also the body's attempt at self-protection to remove harmful stimuli and begin the healing process. It’s part of the body's immune response. The immune system recognizes damaged cells, irritants, and pathogens, and inflammation begins the healing process. Inflammatory abnormalities are a large group of disorders that underlie a vast variety of human diseases. The immune system is often involved with inflammatory disorders, demonstrated in both allergic reactions and some myopathies, with many immune system disorders resulting in abnormal inflammation.

MCE designs a unique collection of 5,352 compounds that are useful tool for Immunology/Inflammation research or autoimmune inflammatory diseases drug discovery.

GPCRs are a large family of cell surface receptors that respond to a variety of external signals. Binding of a signaling molecule to a GPCR results in G protein activation, which in turn triggers the production of any number of second messengers. GPCRs play an important role in the human body, and increased understanding of these receptors has greatly affected modern medicine. In fact, researchers estimate that between one-third to one-half of all approved drugs act by binding to GPCRs. GPCRs are a large group of drug targets in drug discovery.

MCE provides a unique collection of 2,437 small molecules targeting GPCRs that can be used in the screening for various GPCRs-related research and drug development projects.