Drug Discovery Data Management at Summit

Summit (www.Summitplc.com) is a drug discovery biotechnology company that uniquely combines specialist chemical genomics technologies with carbohydrate and medicinal chemistry expertise. The combination of these technologies is aimed at reducing known sources of attrition in the drug discovery process and enables Summit to offer a range of cutting-edge discovery services to the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries. Accelrys spoke with Dr Graham Wynne, Associate Director of Chemistry, Summit, about the use of Accord Enterprise Informatics (AEI) and Accord Enterprise (AE) Webkit in maximising value from drug discovery data.“Summit has used AEI and the AE Webkit extensively for the last 18 months to support multiple drug discovery projects. The initial use focused around uploading all of our Discovery Project data, including compound registration, inventory and biological results generated during a number of medicinal chemistry and screening campaigns.” began Dr Wynne. “Routinely we then query the database and extract compound reports, SAR tables and the like for informal discussion or presentation at Project Meetings. Amongst other benefits this enables us to easily find biological data associated with our compounds, and make informed decisions on whether we wish to progress compounds to the next stage of investigation in a project. We also use AEI to help track the stock levels of our compounds within our proprietary screening collection, and identify any material shortfalls before it becomes an issue,” continued Dr Wynne.Easy-to-use web-based interface“Using the AE Webkit allows scientists access to data in one web-based location, essentially giving us a ‘one-stop-shop’. This interface means it is easier for the user to find information on compounds quickly without having to open the main ‘thick client’ applications, which do have a higher learning curve. Whilst we have only recently started to take full advantage of it, the ability to customise the Web Client was also an important consideration in our decision to implement AEI and the AE Webkit at Summit,” explained Dr Wynne.Page 1 of 2Drug Discovery Data Management at Summit – an Interview with Dr Graham Wynne, Associate Director of ChemistryCheminformatics case studySolution usedAccord Enterprise InformaticsIndustry sectorBiotechnologyOrganization“ A flexible set of tools of this nature are critical to rapidly expanding companies such as ourselves. They have allowed us to operate more effectively and make decisions quicker, as well as empowering our scientific staff through more ready access to key data.”“ Using the AE Webkit allows scientists access to data in one web-based location, essentially giving us a ‘one-stop-shop’.”Page 2 of 2Cheminformatics case studyAccelrys Corporate Headquarters10188 Telesis Court, Suite 100San Diego, CA 92121, USA Tel: +1 858 799 5000Accelrys European Headquarters334 Cambridge Science ParkCambridge, CB4 0WN, UKTel: +44 1223 228500Accelrys Asia HeadquartersNishi-Shinbashi TS Bldg.11F3-3-1 Nishi-Shinbashi, Minato-KuTokyo 105-0003 JAPANTel: +81 3 3578 3860Using AEI to work more efficiently “Previously, project scientists may have stored data in several disperse locations, often Excel spreadsheets on a company server. Since implementing AEI, the data generated is now more accessible to project scientists and managers, and is also easier to administer and search than using other methods. Furthermore, since AEI’s main interface is Excel based, this meant that a more rapid uptake by end users was evident, since much data was already stored in that format,” said Dr Wynne. “Through a quick query of the database, our biologists can quickly find out details of the compound they have screened (e.g. structure, MW) without having to find a chemist, and likewise screening status, assay data and compound inventory are quickly and easily accessible to chemists without having to find a biologist. Overall we have found that this has meant significant improvements in our overall operational efficiency.”Summit employed a consultant for a significant part of the implementation. However, Dr Wynne commented that any issues were overcome quickly thanks to the responsiveness of the Accelrys support staff.Looking to the future, Summit plans to continue to implement this centralisation of both chemical and biological data so that it is readily available to all project scientists, in order to accelerate the decision making and workflow on discovery projects. “In the first instance this will be using the ‘thick client’ applications, though we anticipate a more extensive investigation of the feasibility of web-based deployment, querying and reporting in the future,” explained Dr Wynne.“We took the decision to implement the AEI solution from Accelrys after a Focus Group thoroughly evaluated several industry standard alternatives. Having worked with the system now for well over a year, this was clearly the correct decision, as feedback throughout the organisation has been generally been very positive. A flexible set of tools of this nature are critical to rapidly expanding companies such as ourselves. They have allowed us to operate more effectively and make decisions quicker, as well as empowering our scientific staff through more ready access to key data.” concluded Dr Wynne.“ Since implementing AEI, the data generated is now more accessible to project scientists and managers”“ A flexible set of tools of this nature...have allowed us to operate more effectively and make decisions quicker, as well as empowering our scientific staff through more ready access to key data.”