Prous Institute is a research organization committed to discovering novel therapies through the Epistemic Drug Discovery Program® (EDD). At Prous Institute we define EDD as a holistic knowledge-based and proactive approach to drug discovery. It is designed to develop structure-based models for the prediction of drug efficacy and safety, generate and validate hypotheses with in vitro and in vivo pharmacological testing, and select new lead compounds for preclinical development. Two pillars uphold EDD: chemoinformatics/bioinformatics and basic research leading directly to new bioactive compounds.
Two main drug discovery programs are being developed at the Institute. One is focused on the design, synthesis and biological evaluation of new small-molecule modulators of autophagy as therapeutic agents for cancer and neurodegeneration (Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington’s disease). Another program looks at target-driven drug discovery from natural sources, covering type 2 diabetes, psychological stress and asthma. The Institute’s computational tools enable the in silico screening of thousands of natural products in a rapid, reliable and cost-effective manner, as well as the discovery of new targets and new uses for existing drugs.
Our scientific team covers the following disciplines: chemistry, biology, physics, mathematics and computer science.
History
Prous Institute was founded by Dr. Joseph R. Prous in 2000 with the goal of discovering new drugs through the use of large-scale computational technologies and experimental studies. This is an area that J.R. Prous long contemplated during his time as founder, CEO and President of Prous Science (a Thomson Reuters company since September 2007).
J.R. Prous has actively monitored drug R&D activities worldwide for a long time.