The grant will be used to accelerate drug discovery for cystic fibrosis. The CF Foundation is a proven leader because of their vision and determination to identify the resources and people needed to cure this disease. We are pleased to provide this grant and hope that others will be encouraged to follow our lead. As an innovative voluntary health organization, the CF Foundation's Therapeutics Development Program was created to facilitate the early stages of CF drug discovery and development. Part of this program is a network of specialized clinical research centers where individuals with CF have the opportunity to participate in clinical trials.
Combinatorial chemistry is a scientific process by which new chemical compounds are created.
It is analogous to using a child's building blocks to fabricate different shapes. High-throughput screening rapidly evaluates the actual compounds generated through combinatorial chemistry to test if they are effective. These tests determine whether an experimental compound actually corrects CF cells, or protects against deadly bacteria, so common to CF lungs. What makes a gift of this magnitude so exciting is that it will allow us to exploit technology that will increase the volume in this pipeline exponentially. And, while we are pursuing this new avenue, we will continue to expand our current research, education and care programs and attack this disease from all angles.