The 4th International Conference on "Challenges in Drug Discovery & Therapeutics" themed as "Improving Quality of Life" begins at Ziauddin University on Friday.

The 2-day conference is aimed at providing a forum for national and international researchers, to present the research results, solutions to problems, and insight into emerging new challenges in drug development and therapeutics.

Dr Jamshed Ali Kazmi, Pharmacist, and Vice Chancellor Sohail University, while addressing the event as chief guest, said, "When a drug target is known, and the mechanism described, this can fail to capture the whole story. Drugs may act at more than one target, and efficacy observed may not always be due to the mechanisms originally expected,"

While talking about target discovery he affirmed, "This approach works on the concept that 'if you want a new drug you must find a new target', once a target is identified compound libraries are then screened to find a drug that binds to the target and elicits the desired effect."

To sum up his presentation regarding both phenotypic and target-based drug discovery approaches he said, "Each have distinct benefits and challenges, perhaps rather than being viewed as opposing drug discovery strategies, they should be seen as complementary, which, if used together could increase the likelihood of discovering a truly novel therapeutic strategy."

Guest of honour at the ceremony Sardar Yasin Malik Chairman, Hilton Pharma, said that this conference showcases a host of senior level experts to discuss recent developments in the industry and debate the best strategies and solutions to improve drug discovery and therapeutics. It is with better understanding of pharmacology one can know the right dosage, interactions and abuse of drugs.

During the Dr Jafarey Memorial lecture about the need for pharmacovigilance culture, Dr Shazia Qasim Jamshed, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice, School of Pharmacy, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) said, "Pharmacovigilance is simply to map and certify the safety of medicine from test tube to patient. Safety needs to be monitored for commonly used medicines, and thus healthcare professionals are anticipated to be aware of the principles of pharmacovigilance and practice them for standard patient care."

"Better-quality patient care revolves around academic detailing of healthcare professionals in drug safety and mutually inclusive, informational exchange setting between national centres followed by linkage of conclusive evidence of drug safety with research and policies," she added.

While delivering Sir Ziauddin Memorial Lecture to the young scientists on X-ray crystallography and Drug Design, Dr Masood Parvez, X-ray Crystallographer, University of Calgary, Canada, exclaimed, "X-ray crystallography provides starting point in the form of fractional coordinates of perspective drug molecules obtained from experimental data that may be utilised to rationally design new chemical entities or drugs that could contribute in treating human diseases."

While talking about "Polypharmacology of Cancer: A Novel Approach of Drug Discovery with Current Challenges and Opportunities" Dr Huma Rasheed, Research Scientist, Ampli Tech Inc, USA, highlighted that at present, polypharmacology and chemogenomics has gained a great interest in the design and discovery of novel anticancer drugs.