High throughput in vivo phenotypic screening for drug repurposing: Discovery of MLR-1023 a novel insulin sensitizer and novel Lyn kinase activator with clinical proof of concept.

Drug discovery requires the combination of medicinal chemistry and biology. In this article Chris Lipinski, the medicinal chemist, describes the chemical origins at Pfizer of Tolimidone the starting point for the repurposed MLR-1023 (Ochman et al., 2012). Andrew Reaume, the biologist, describes his motivation to develop a high quality (i.e. in vivo model) phenotypic screening platform as an ideal drug repositioning platform.