Protein Kinases As Drug Targets

With Kinase inhibitors being widely seen as the long-sought 'magic bullet' to conquer cancer, this fully comprehensive guide to kinase inhibitor drug development covers the entire drug pipeline from target identification to compound development and clinical application.Volume 1 focuses upon the medicinal chemistry of kinase drugs, from target identification to lead optimization, and contains numerous contributions from large and small pharmaceutical companies. Volume 2 surveys current and future therapeutic application areas for kinase inhibitor drugs, with a strong focus on oncology drugs, as this is the most important therapeutic field for these drugs. In addition, all six currently approved kinase inhibitor drugs (small molecules and antibodies) are described, and their performances in clinical practice are discussed.

Bert Klebl is an expert in small molecule based drug discovery. Currently, he is managing director and CSO of Lead Discovery Center GmbH, which was started by Max-Planck Innovation and the Max-Planck Society. Before, he was at GPC Biotech, Axxima Pharmaceuticals and Aventis (Hoechst Marion Roussel). A biochemist by training, he graduated from the University of Konstanz, Germany, and did post-doctoral work at the Biotechnology Research Institute in Montr?al, Canada.

Gerhard M?ller received his PhD in Organic Chemistry in 1992 from the Technical University of Munich, working with Horst Kessler. After two years in the Medicinal Chemistry Department of Glaxo Verona (Italy), he joined the Central Research Facility of Bayer AG in Leverkusen. From 2001 to 2003 he headed the chemistry department of Organon's Lead Discovery Unit is Oss, Netherlands. In 2003 he was nominated CSO of Axxima Pharmaceuticals AG in Munich, and upon its acquisition through GPC Biotech AG in 2005, he became GPC's Vice President Drug Discovery. Since 2008 he is CSO and Managing Director of Proteros Fragments GmbH, specializing in fragment-based lead generation. Apart from numerous scientific articles and patents, he co-edited the "Chemogenomics in Drug Discovery" book of this series on medicinal chemistry.

Michael Hamacher studied biology at the Heinrich-Heine-Universit?t in D?sseldorf, Germany. Subsequent to his PhD, he joined the Medizinisches Proteom-Center, Ruhr-Universit?t Bochum, Germany, and became Head of Administration of the MPC, responsible for the implementation and the strategical planning of the Human Brain Proteome Project under the roof of the Human Proteome Organisation (HUPO BPP) among others. In 2008, he moved to the Lead Discovery Center GmbH, Dortmund, Germany, for the same position, focussing on preparing national as well as international funding applications, on project management, budgeting as well as human resources. He applied and implemented numerous projects in early pharmaceutical research.

VOLUME 1: MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY AND DRUG DISCOVERY Protein kinase families Screening protein kinases Assay development Hit-to-lead development Lead optimization VOLUME 2: THERAPEUTIC INDICATIONS AND CLINICAL USE Cancer treatment Inflammation Diabetes Neurodegeneration and -regeneration Infectious diseases Kinase inhibitors in clinical practice - Gleevec - Iressa - Tarceva - Soafenib - Sutinib Pediatric applications Alternatives to small molecule inhibitors