Orphagen CEO, Scott Thacher, will speak tomorrow at the 17th Annual San Diego MedChem Syposium at UC San Diego Price Center Theatre. His presentation is entitled “First-in-Class Drug Discovery at Unexplored Orphan Nuclear Receptors.” The objective of this one-day symposium is an annual review of medicinal chemistry programs happening in San Diego. “I’m excited to participate because new targets from the nuclear receptor family can create productive new opportunities for drug discovery and medicinal chemistry,” said Scott Thacher.

Dr. Thacher will present alongside other San Diego pioneers in R&D such as Dr. Jeffery W. Kelly (The Scripps Institute of Research) “Towards Small Molecule Adaptation of the Protein Homeostasis Network to Ameliorate a Spectrum of Diseases” and Dr. Bradley S. Moore (Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Skaggs School of Pharmacy) “Rewriting Natural Product Drug Discovery with Synthetic Biology.”

Dr. Thacher will review some of the tools, including medicinal chemistry, that have made the development of first-in-class drug discovery programs possible.

About Orphagen – Orphagen discovers drug candidates for potential drug targets for which small molecule ligands–potential drug-like molecules–have yet to be identified. Its goal is to identify, characterize, and position a new class of drug so that pre-clinical and clinical development can be initiated with partners and/or outside sources of funding. These targets come from the nuclear receptor family of drug targets. On a per target basis, the nuclear receptors are one of the most successful target classes known to the pharmaceutical industry. Targets of interest to Orphagen encompass several of the so-called orphan nuclear receptors—potential therapeutic receptors that have yet to be exploited by the pharmaceutical industry.

For more information, contact: Scott Thacher, (858) 481-6191