NESACS - The Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society

The NESACS Medicinal Chemistry Group

- by Mindy Levine

When Dr. Raj Rajur left ArQule Cor- poration in 2001 to start his own com- pany, very few of his colleagues were interested in joining him. “When you have very preliminary ideas, it is hard to convince people to support you,” said Dr. Rajur.

His company, Creagen Biosci- ences, now employs 24 chemists, who are divided between sites in Woburn, MA, and India.

The goal of Creagen Biosciences is to provide medicinal chemistry knowledge and expertise to biotechnol- ogy companies. “We specialize in cre- ating intellectual property for biotechs,” said Dr. Rajur. For example, Creagen Biosciences developed a com- pound for Mercury Therapeutics, Inc., that had nanomolar potency against the biological target.

MedChem symposia
Dr. Rajur heads the Medicinal Chem- istry (MedChem) group of the North- eastern Section of the American Chemical Society (NESACS), which is a position that he has held since 2004. The MedChem group, one of the largest and most active subgroups in NESACS, organizes three annual sym- posia. The goal of the symposia is to “cover cutting-edge topics in the phar- maceutical and biotech industries,” according to Dr. Rajur. Each sympo- sium focuses on a particular therapeu- tic field. For example, past symposia have focused on advances in the treat- ment of Alzheimer’s Disease, which affects more than 35 million people worldwide, and on the treatment of Type II Diabetes, also an extremely common affliction.

The most recent symposium took place in May, 2010, in conjunction with Sino-American Pharmaceutical Professionals Association (SAPA-NE). The topic of this symposium was “Dis- covery in China: Status Opportunity, International Collaboration, and Chal- lenges.” The choice of this topic recog- nizes the increasing role that China and other Asian countries play in the pharmaceutical industry, as many compa- nies find it more cost-effective to con- duct some chemistry research in these countries.

Additionally, the symposia provide a networking opportunity for chemists from industry and academia to interact. Students who may be interested in a career in the pharmaceutical industry are highly encouraged to attend and network with representatives of local pharmaceutical companies. In addition to the scientific talks, Dr. Mukund Chorghade, past NESACS chair and CSO at THINQ Pharma, often pro- vides a one-hour career guidance and consulting session during the symposia, which assists students, as well as other chemists who are seeking employment in the pharmaceutical industry.

The MedChem group is “doing very new things that we haven’t been doing before,” said Dr. Chorghade. “I am just delighted.”

Relationship with NESACS
The MedChem group plays an important role in the larger NESACS organi- zation. Two of the three annual sym- posia are hosted in conjunction with the monthly NESACS meeting, and one symposium is held independently. Additionally, the NESACS website (www.nesacs.org) has a section devoted to the MedChem group.

History of MedChem
The MedChem group used to meet monthly at a restaurant in Sturbridge, said Dr. Patrick Gordon, chemistry lec- turer at Emmanuel College and past chair of the MedChem group. How- ever, very few chemists attended the monthly meetings, which included a chemistry seminar given by an external speaker. “Clearly we weren’t meeting the needs of our clientele,” Dr. Gordon said, as sometimes the only people who attended the meetings were the members of the MedChem board.

When Dr. Rajur assumed the posi- tion as chair of the MedChem group in 2004, he significantly modified the structure of the group and its program- ming, moving to the current format of three annual symposia. The group’s popularity has increased dramatically as a result. For example, approximately 70 chemists attended the December, 2009 symposium on “Recent Develop- ments in RNAi Therapeutics,” which was held in Burlington, MA.

Another relatively recent change in the MedChem group’s organization is the source of funding for events. The chair-elect used to be responsible for procuring funds from various pharma- ceutical companies, which would be used to invite speakers to the monthly meetings. Funding for the symposia now comes partly from NESACS and partly from local pharmaceutical spon- sorships, Dr. Gordon said.

Future Directions
Dr. Rajur would love to see more peo- ple involved in the MedChem group. In particular, chemists are encouraged to get involved in planning the symposia and choosing relevant therapeutic top- ics for the events. The MedChem group conducts a long-range planning meeting once a year, at which time the topics of the symposia (and potential speakers) are chosen. Another future direction that Dr. Gordon suggested would be the establishment of a Med- Chem prize to recognize an important local medicinal chemist. This prize could be presented annually at the December MedChem symposium.

Yet another area for future devel- opment would be the elaboration of the NESACS website to include more medicinal chemistry-specific content. Dr. Rajur would like to add “fun and interactive chemistry links” to the Med- Chem section of the NESACS website. Dr. Rajur would also like to add links and advice to help students success- fully transition from the academic world to a pharmaceutical position, which is often a challenging career move. Links that help visitors volun- teer for and contribute to the Med- Chem group would also be desirable.

Conclusions
“What I am particularly proud of is that we represent chemists from indus- try, academia, and government,” said Dr. Chorgade. “This diverse group brings a fresh perspective to the table.”

“The people who established this group were the real pioneers,” con- cluded Dr. Gordon. “They saw the vision and necessity of having a Med- Chem group. We continue to benefit from that vision today.”