This project is anticipated to be the largest computational chemistry project ever undertaken. And the more individuals who volunteer their PCs, the more power available to move the project forward. Over five decades of cancer research effort in drug discovery and development have yielded more than 40 drugs for the treatment of cancers. These anti-cancer drugs are extending the lives of many people with cancer, but often at great cost. The side effects commonly associated with cancer therapy often may seem as bad as the disease itself.
Side effects can be so severe that they limit the dosages patients can receive.
And half of all cancer patients fail to respond to the therapies currently available. The discovery of new drugs represents the best hope to fight both the rising medical costs and the suffering associated with current cancer therapies. Time is an important factor to making a cure available, especially with a disease as deadly as cancer. The road from idea, to discovery, to testing, to going to market can be a long process, but every day that is shaved off the time to drug availability may save hundreds of lives. Analyzing this quantity of anything requires an enormous amount of computational power.