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Jerome Meneyrol
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Direct-to-biology: testing the crude reaction to speed up DMTA cycles
This J Med Chem editorial (8 October 2026) presents direct-to-biology (D2B) platforms: crude or minimally processed reaction mixtures are assayed without purification, collapsing the cycle into “synthesis, then biological test”. The gain is clearest for bifunctional molecules (PROTACs, molecular glues), whose multi-step syntheses limit library…
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From phenotypic hit to probe: three design criteria worth remembering
This J Med Chem paper (14 October 2026) asks a practical question: of all the analogues of a phenotypic hit, which should you make to get a high-quality chemical probe? The authors note that PDD feeds pipelines with first-in-class modalities, but target and mode-of-action deconvolution…
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HighPlay3: designing cyclic peptides that bind and cross membranes
Cyclic peptides offer strong affinity and selectivity, but membrane permeability limits oral bioavailability. The authors argue that existing AI tools mostly optimize affinity and neglect permeability. HighPlay3 (Eur J Med Chem, 16 October 2026) is a structure-integrated de novo design platform that iteratively evaluates structure…
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AlphaFold in structure-based design: what predicted models can (and cannot) do for medicinal chemists
A review in Eur J Med Chem (17 October 2026) takes stock of AlphaFold structures in drug discovery. It covers target identification, binding-site prediction, docking, virtual screening, lead optimization and SAR interpretation, with examples in oncology, antimicrobial resistance, neurodegeneration and targeted protein degradation. Two numbers…
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MolecureAI: an agentic platform that builds safety rules into AI drug design
Autonomous AI systems are steadily evolving, and this paper explores a fascinating approach to drug discovery. MolecureAI introduces an agentic platform designed to generate drug candidates while actively enforcing chemical rules and safety parameters—essentially, building in safeguards directly into the AI’s decision-making process. The authors…