A new database of information on the properties and activities of drugs and drug-like small molecules and their targets, launched in January 2010 with data on more than 520,000 compounds.
The database is now hosted by the European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) having been transferred from biotech firm Galapagos NV in July 2008 through a £4.7 million Strategic Award from the Wellcome Trust. ChEMBLdb is unique in focusing on drug discovery and because of its size; 520,000 small molecules and 2.4 million records of their effects on biological systems. The data include information about how small molecules bind to their targets, how these compounds affect cells and whole organisms, and information on the molecules’ absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity.
Alan Schafer of the Wellcome Trust said: “This unprecedented transfer of pharmaceutical data resources from the private sector to the public domain should have the greatest impact on researchers in academia and in small companies on limited budgets. ChEMBLdb will be a major resource of information for driving forward medicinal chemistry and drug development in the UK and internationally.”