1. Towards an Integrated Research Policy in the Area of Drug Discovery in the Arab Countries
Including mechanisms to better utilization of their terrestrial and marine wealth.
Bassem El-Menshawi
NEPAD Sci & Technol Regional Coordinator for Northern Africa,
National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt

2. TYPES OF RESEARCH LABORATORIES NEEDED:
DRUG DISCOVERY
TYPES OF RESEARCH LABORATORIES NEEDED:
This depends on the therapeutic class
required

3. FOR EXAMPLE: IF PRIORITY GIVEN TO:
DRUGS TO BE DISCOVERED
FOR EXAMPLE: IF PRIORITY GIVEN TO:
-ANTITUMORS,
-ANTICARCINOGENIC,
-IMMUNOMODULATORY,
-ANTIVIRAL AGENTS
A CELL CULTURE LAB IS NEEDED

4. THE STATE OF THE ART OF DRUG DISCOVERY:
THE USE OF IN VITRO BIOASSAYS
THE USE OF CELL LINES
(e.g. HUMAN TUMOR CELL LINES)
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES In-Vitro Bioassays -Rapid, less selective, but diagnostic, less expensive, -suitable for minute amounts of materials, -suitable for screening large number of samples in Drug Discovery programs In-Vivo Bioassays More selective, expensive, mostly Time Consuming, Animal model, require large amounts of material, hardly could guide the fractionation of extracts or mixture of compounds.

5. TYPES OF RESOURCES TO BE UTILIZED:
Natural Resources Line :
- Plants
- Microbes (bacteria, fungi)
- Marine Organisms
Synthetic Line:
- Novel Chemical Entities
- Generics

6. LAB FOR NATURAL PRODUCTS
THE BASIC CHEMICAL LABS:
LAB FOR NATURAL PRODUCTS
(Isolation of Natural Compounds)
LAB FOR SYNTHESIS
(Rational Pharmacological, &
Computer Aided Drug Design)

7. IN ADDITION TO
- ANTI-VIRAL TESTING LAB
- PHARMACOLOGICAL PROFILE &
TOXICOLOGY LAB

8. FOR BIOTECHNOLOGICAL PRODUCTS A BIOTECH / MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
FOR DISCOVERY OF ANTIBIOTICS:
A MICROBIOLOGY / FERMENTATION LAB
FOR ANTI-SCHISTOSOMIASIS:
PARASITOLOGY LAB

9. THERAPEUTIC NATURAL PRODUCTS
- ACTIVE COMPOUNDS
- ACTIVE EXTRACTS
- COMBINED ACTIVE EXTRACTS

10. METHODS OF DRUG DISCOVERY FROM NATURAL PRODUCTS How the Active Principle be identified ? Phytochemical Approach Bio-Activity Approach High Throughput Screening Computer Aided HPLC/MS

11. EXISTING PROJECT MODEL:
AT THE NATIONAL RESEARCH CENTRE, EGYPT
A SEARCH FOR
SCHISTOSOOMICIDAL, ANTITUMOR, ANTICARCINOGENIC, IMMUNOMODULATORY,
AND ANTIVIRAL AGENTS
IN EGYPTIAN PLANTS

12. This is a drug discovery program conducted at NRC
based on Egyptian plants,
utilizes universally accepted protocols
for bioactivity-guided fractionation
of plant extracts,
and in-Vitro Bioassays.

13. Under this project Egyptian plants
are Bio-assayed for specific
medicinal activities:
Schistosomicidal
Antitumor
Cancer chemopreventive
[anticarcinogenic]
Immunomodulating
Antiviral

14. BIOACTIVITY APPROACH: -Extracts are screened for a specific medicinal activity (an in-vitro bioassay). -Only BioActive extracts are fractionated. -Active fractions are further fractionated to isolate the active compound(s) in pure form. -Characterization of its structure.

15. Only Bio-Active Extracts
are subjected to
Bioassay-Guided Fractionation, in 2
steps:
Initial Partitioning
Comprehensive Fractionation
for the isolation of their active
principles.

16. EX-VIVO BIOASSAY
In-Vivo / In-Vitro
Used for assaying the activity of compounds isolated in limited amounts,
untill additional materials could be obtained sufficient for in-vivo bioassy.
It detects the effect of in-vivo absorption and metabolism on compounds that are active in-vitro.

17. Active compounds isolated are then bioassayed in animal models
to confirm the bioactivity
and determine their therapeutic value and toxicity profiles.

18. The overall accomplishments After 3 years of the project’s life are as follows:

27. Conclusions -Screening Large Number of Natural Species -Using In Vitro Bioassays -For 5-10 Medicinal Activities

28. Conclusions: -Integrates Arab Natural wealth -Optimizes Arab IPR -Enhance the Invention in a Strategic Area

29. Conclusions Central Joint Research Lab (under one strategy, one mechanism, one protocol, and one leader). - Nodes in each country - Joint Surveying of Biodiversity -Joint Ownership of Products - Networking

30. Conclusions - Arab Meeting for Strategic Planning of Drug Discovery - Role of Bibliotheca Alexandrina

31. ALL THE PRAISES AND THANKS BE TO ALLAH

33. THIS PROJECT IS FUNDED BY THE ACADEMY OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, CAIRO, EGYPT, UNDER THE PROGRAM OF BIOTECHNOLOGY 1998.