Contents

• Introduction 2
• Aldesleukin 2
• Drug Discovery Process 3
• Development of Aldesleukin 5
• Future Technologies 6
• Drug Discovery and Development Team 7
• Conclusion 8
• Reflection 9
• References 10

Description

The understanding of human anatomy has given rise to understanding of diseases and hence the discovery of drugs to prevent and treat the diseases. However, the understanding of diseases is more enhanced and at a deeper level in the past few decades thanks to the development in the field of molecular biology. This along with technology based sciences such as genomics, proteomics and computational power have allowed for newer ways of understanding diseases. In the backdrop of greater understanding of diseases, the field of discovery and development of effective and safe drugs to counter the diseases has also advanced in the recent years than at any time in the past. One of the medical exercises that has enabled the discovery of drugs is sequencing of human genomes. This exercise has provided medical fraternity as well as associated sciences and industries a catalogue of all the known genes and the proteins which are responsible for the functioning of all the organs of the human body. One of the recently discovered and developed proteins is ‘Aldesleukin’, This is an artificial protein, which has the same function as that of the native human interleukin-2 (IL-2). Interleukins. This protein is known to stimulate the functioning of the immune system, failure of which is a well-known cause of cancer. This paper discusses drug discovery process and the stages involved in the drug discovery process in general first and then with respect to the chosen drug aldesleukin. The paper also discusses the technology used in each stage of the discovery process of the chosen drug i.e. aldesleukin. The paper further discusses the merits and demerits of this drug in the use of cancer treatment. Then a working plan for the stage 1 of discovery process is prepared by forming an expert team and the roles of each member of the team would be discussed.