10,000 years work in just one year!

Scientists have claimed that they have achieved 10,000 years worth of drug development in just one year by using a new computer simulation.

Times a tickin'. A scientist has claimed to have done 10,000 years worth of analysis in just 1 year

The computer programme, developed from widely available software, allows researchers to quickly establish if a substance has the qualities and characteristics of an effective drug before it is tested in the real world.

Kristin Tøndel, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, developed the technique while looking into new cancer treatments. After starting with more than 250,000 chemical compounds, Kristin narrowed it down to just eight potentially active compounds in just one year.

 “It is clear that without computer simulation, it would have been impossible for us to start with such a wide range of compounds. If we were to test these substances experimentally in a laboratory, we might have managed perhaps 20-40 substances in a year. In other words, it would have taken us 10,000 years to test 250,000 chemical compounds using traditional methods.”

The method was initially used for calculating smaller molecular structures but the researchers discovered that it could also be used in calculations for larger molecules, like protein structures.

Tøndel said: “We can develop new medicines faster, less expensively, and more effectively. Another important benefit is that the method reduces the need for animal testing, and ultimately human testing, because only compounds we really have faith in will be the subject of practical tests.”