Review

An inactive ingredient is any component of a drug product other than the active ingredient. Inactive ingredients are added during the manufacturing process of pharmaceutical products such as tablets, capsules, suppositories, and injections. In new drug development, once an inactive ingredient has appeared in an approved drug product for a particular route of administration, the inactive ingredient is not considered new and may require a less extensive review the next time it is included in a new drug product.

MCE offers a unique collection of 181 inactive ingredients, which only contain inactive ingredients of the final dosage forms of the drug. MCE Inactive Ingredient library is a powerful tool for aiding in the development of the drug and saving unnecessary time.

From the discovery of traditional Chinese medicine to modern antibiotics, natural products have played an important role in the drug development process. A review of all FDA-approved drugs shows that natural products and natural product-like compounds account for more than one-third of all approved drugs. Nearly half of that came from mammals, a quarter from microbes, and a quarter from plants. Over time, the proportion of microbial natural products and natural product derivatives in approved drugs has increased. Natural products have natural advantages in drug development and can be used as lead compounds in drug discovery for drug identification and mechanism research.

MCE provides a unique collection of 4,956 natural compounds and natural product-like compounds that contain saccharides and glycosides, phenylpropanoids, quinones, flavonoids, terpenoids and glycosides, steroids, alkaloid, phenols, acids and aldehydes. Natural product and natural product-like compounds library is a useful tool for drug discovery that can be used for high-throughput screening (HTS) and high-content screening (HCS).

Kinases are enzymes that catalyze the addition of phosphate groups to substrate molecules, a process known as phosphorylation. Protein phosphorylation serves as a critical regulatory mechanism for numerous cellular processes, including cell division, metabolism, and signal transduction. The human genome encodes over 500 kinases, which collectively regulate approximately 50% of cellular functions. Due to their pivotal roles, kinases represent one of the most important target classes in drug development.

Kinase inhibitors can selectively block the activity of disease-associated kinases, making them valuable therapeutics for conditions such as cancer and inflammatory diseases. FDA-approved kinase inhibitors have undergone extensive preclinical and clinical studies, demonstrating high bioactivity, favorable safety profiles, and good bioavailability, rendering them suitable for investigating new therapeutic indications.

Protein phosphorylation is a key post-translational modification underlying the regulation of many cellular processes. Phosphatases and kinases contribute to the regulation of protein phosphorylation homeostasis in the cell. This reversible regulation of protein phosphorylation is critical for the proper control of a wide range of cellular activities, including cell cycle, proliferation and differentiation, metabolism, cell-cell interactions, etc.

Protein phosphatases have evolved in separate families that are structurally and mechanistically distinct. Based on substrate specificity and functional diversity, protein phosphatases are classified into two superfamilies: Protein serine/threonine phosphatases and Protein tyrosine phosphatases. Ser/Thr phosphatases are metalloenzymes belonging to two major gene families termed PPP (phosphoprotein phosphatase) and PPM (metal-dependent protein phosphatases), whereas protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) belong to distinct classes of enzymes that utilize a phospho-cysteine enzyme intermediate as a part of their catalytic action.

MCE supplies a unique collection of 174 phosphatase inhibitors that mainly targeting protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) and serine/threonine-specific protein phosphatases. MCE Phosphatase Inhibitor Library is a useful tool for phosphatase drug discovery and related research.

Kinases is a class of enzymes that adds chemicals called phosphates to other molecules, such as sugars or proteins. Protein phosphorylation serves as a critical regulatory mechanism for numerous cellular processes including cell division, metabolism, and signal transduction, with approximately 50% of cellular functions in humans being regulated by kinase activity. In drug discovery, kinases represent a major category of therapeutic targets, and kinase inhibitors constitute an important class of pharmaceuticals that block the activity of specific disease-associated enzymes, particularly in cancer and inflammatory disorders. Small molecule kinase inhibitors represent one of the fastest-growing drug categories, having received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for both oncological and non-oncological indications. As of September 2023, over 70 FDA-approved small molecule kinase inhibitors are commercially available.

The MCE Kinase Inhibitor Library Mini contains 271 kinase inhibitors primarily targeting protein kinases (VEGFR, EGFR, BTK, CDK, Akt, etc.), lipid kinases (PI3K, PI4K, SK, etc.), and carbohydrate kinases. This collection includes 1-3 highly specific representative compounds per target, optimized for screening of kinase-related drug targets in pharmaceutical research.

Kinase is an enzyme that adds phosphate groups to other molecules. This process is known as phosphorylation. Protein phosphorylation is a key aspect in the regulation of a large number of cellular processes including cellular division, metabolism, signal transduction, and so on. There are over 500 kinases encoded by the human genome and it has been estimated that kinases regulate approximately 50% of cellular functions. Kinases are a large group of drug targets in drug discovery. Kinase inhibitors are an important class of drugs that block certain enzymes involved in diseases such as cancer and inflammatory disorders.

Kinase inhibitor library designed by MCE contains 3,814 kinase inhibitors and regulators mainly targeting protein kinases (VEGFR, EGFR, BTK, CDK, Akt, etc.), lipid kinases (PI3K, PI4K, SK, etc.) and carbohydrate kinases (Hexokinase), and is a useful tool for kinase drug discovery and related research.

Adult stem cells are important for tissue homeostasis and regeneration due to their ability to self-renew and generate multiple types of differentiated daughters. Self-renewal is reflected by their capacity to undergo multiple/limitless divisions. Several signaling pathways are involved in self-renewal of stem cells, that is, Notch, Wnt, and Hedgehog pathways or Polycomb family proteins. Recent studies mainly focus on cancer stem cell (CSCs), induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSCs), neural stem cell and maintenance of embryonic stem cell pluripotency. Among them, CSCs have been believed to be responsible for tumor initiation, growth, and recurrence that have implications for cancer therapy.

MCE owns a unique collection of 2,685 compounds that can be used for stem cell regulatory and signaling pathway research.