Category: chemistry data

The International Life Sciences Awards, an initiative from Global Health & Pharma Magazine (GHP) that is now in its fifth year, recognizes industry innovators – and this year that has included honoring Reaxys as an innovation leader by awarding it the Best Chemistry Predictive Analytics Specialists 2020 for its best-in-class Predictive Retrosynthesis software.

GHP acknowledges the hard work and industry leadership from the Reaxys team in making an already powerful chemistry data solution even more so by developing an AI solution for drug discovery, noting that the Predictive Retrosynthesis software “combines reaction data with a deep learning algorithm to support innovation in synthetic and medicinal chemistry.”

In their profile of Reaxys, GHP highlights the incredible work of the Elsevier team in curating and verifying scientific knowledge, its groundbreaking partnerships with other innovators, and the company’s thirst to help develop new technologies. It was a collaboration with start-up Pending.AI (PAI) that yielded the Reaxys-PAI Predictive Retrosynthesis solution, and the tool is already being utilized by pharmaceutical and chemical companies for synthesis planning.

GHP also
highlights the fact that Reaxys is helping organizations to digitalize by
“enabling the extraction, curation and harmonization of chemistry data from
companies’ electronic lab notebooks and combining it with published chemistry
data.” This breaks down information silos and saves time by providing a single
point to conduct searches. It also ensures the predictive retrosynthesis model
is drawing from both published knowledge and a wealth of in-house research.

“With the recent outbreak of COVID-19 there is no better time to take our hats off to those who dedicate their professional lives to making our everyday lives safer,” said GHP about the International Life Sciences Awards. Reaxys is an important tool for all of drug discovery, but has certainly distinguished itself in the fight against COVID-19 this year. Elsevier has even offered complimentary access to it for researchers focusing on the coronavirus through our Coronavirus Research Hub.

“We are so pleased that the Reaxys team has been recognized as a leader in innovation by the International Life Sciences Awards for our work in retrosynthesis,” said Ivan Krstic, Director of Chemistry Solutions at Elsevier. “We will strive to continue making advances in this area that we hope will help drive amazing discoveries in drug research.”

You can find out more about Reaxys Predictive Retrosynthesis here, and read the full article from GHP to learn more about why Reaxys was chosen for this special award.

Also visit our Coronavirus Research Hub to learn how researchers and data scientists can get access to valuable information.

Systems thinking asks
scientists to look at the bigger picture and take a more holistic approach to
their work. Systems thinkers consider how their field of study might relate to
other disciplines, and how their research might inform or benefit from the broader
knowledge stream. 

In modern medicinal
chemistry, systems thinking has become an absolute necessity due to the nature
of the drug development process. Chemists, biologists, doctors, mathematicians,
physicists and other scientists work collaboratively through partnerships and
initiatives that combine the resources of academia, government, research
organizations, hospitals and commercial business—all in a combined effort to
develop effective new medicines.

This means systems
thinking is critical for the pharmaceutical industry. To thrive, pharma
companies can’t just stay insulated and try to “do their own thing” in the same
way that they always have. Welcoming new collaborators, integrating new systems
and adopting new technologies are all part of embracing the systems thinking
approach.

In my upcoming webinar, titled “Chemistry Data for Systems Thinkers,” I will discuss how to take a system approach to creating new chemistry knowledge, how to translate knowledge into useful applications, and how to be prepared to take on our current global crisis.

Among the relevant
topics that will be included:

• Systematic integration of biological and chemical data
• AI-ready data for synthesis route designs and prediction
• Best practices for the pharma industry and education system
• Practical examples of using system thinking (e.g. digitization of chemistry knowledge in pharma, data readiness in green chemistry, responding to COVID-19 using conscientious data excerption from literature)

While mounting piles of data and information silos can make it a challenge to embrace a systems thinking approach to pharma, it is fast becoming a necessity to do so. Companies that adopt the mindset, strategies and tools that enable big-picture thinking will be better able to innovate and succeed.

The free “Chemistry Data for Systems Thinkers” webinar is coming up on May 26. Learn more and register here.