Fragment-Based Drug Discovery Market

Market Overview

The global fragment-based drug discovery market size was valued at USD 868.42 million in 2023. It is expected to reach USD 2,313.43 million by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 11.5% over the forecast period (2024-32). Key drivers in the global Fragment-Based Drug Discovery (FBDD) market include advancements in structural biology techniques, enabling more efficient identification of fragment hits for drug targets. Moreover, the escalating demand for novel and effective therapeutics and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases fuels the adoption of FBDD as a viable drug discovery approach.

Highlights

• North America is the highest shareholder in the global market

Market Overview

Fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) is a method to develop potent small-molecule compounds starting from fragments that bind weakly to targets. FBDD has several advantages over high-throughput screening campaigns, such as saving experimental costs, offering diverse hits, and exhibiting multiple ways to develop novel compounds. FBDD has been applied to targets such as enzymes, protein-protein interactions, and membrane proteins.

FBDD usually involves the following steps: selecting a fragment library, screening for hits using sensitive biophysical methods, determining the structures of fragment-target complexes, developing assays for analyzing structure-activity relationship (SAR), and designing strategies to grow or link the fragments into drug-like lead compounds. FBDD has become a widely used approach in target-based drug discovery and has contributed to discovering several approved drugs and clinical candidates.

Market Dynamics

Global Fragment-Based Drug Discovery Market Drivers

Expanded Application of FBDD in Various Therapeutic Areas

The demand for the fragment-based drug discovery market is being driven by expansion in the application of FBDD in various therapeutic areas such as oncology, central nervous system disorders, infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, inflammation, and autoimmune diseases. FBDD can potentially discover novel and effective drugs for these complex and unmet medical needs, as it offers a promising and versatile strategy to accelerate drug discovery and development for various diseases and medical conditions. Moreover, companies in the FBDD market can leverage this opportunity by developing and applying FBDD methods for different therapeutic targets, collaborating with academic and research institutions, and investing in biophysical techniques and technologies that enable efficient screening and optimization of fragments.

For instance, Evotec AG launched its Innovation Centre for Fragment-Based Drug Discovery (FBDD) in Hamburg, Germany, and Oxford, the UK. The center aims to identify novel, small molecule hits (fragments) for challenging biological targets using its EVOlution platform. The platform combines ultra-sensitive screening technologies and protein-ligand X-ray crystallography to detect low molecular weight fragments in a biologically relevant environment. Evotec has validated the technology against various therapeutic targets, including CNS, oncology, inflammation, metabolic disease, and cardiovascular diseases.

Global Fragment-Based Drug Discovery Market Restraint

Limited Chemical Diversity of Fragments

The restraint for the fragment-based drug discovery market is that fragments are small molecules that have fewer atoms and bonds than conventional drug-like compounds. Therefore, they have less structural complexity and diversity, limiting the range of chemical space they can cover. This means that some important regions of the protein target surface may not be accessible or recognized by the fragments, leading to missed opportunities for finding novel and potent inhibitors. Moreover, limited chemical diversity can also reduce the chances of finding fragments that can be easily grown or linked to form larger and more complex molecules, which is a key step in the FBDD process.

Global Fragment-Based Drug Discovery Market Opportunities

Focus on Rare and Neglected Diseases

The opportunity for the Fragment-Based Drug Discovery (FBDD) market is the focus on rare and neglected diseases, which affect millions of people worldwide but have limited or no effective treatments available. FBDD can offer a novel and efficient way to discover new drugs for these diseases, as it can target challenging and unexplored protein classes, such as protein-protein interactions, allosteric sites, and membrane proteins. FBDD can benefit from the availability of natural products, which are rich sources of diverse and complex fragments that can modulate biological targets involved in rare and neglected diseases. Therefore, focusing on rare and neglected diseases is an opportunity for the FBDD market, as it can address the unmet medical needs of these populations and create innovative and effective therapies for these conditions.

Furthermore, companies in the FBDD market can leverage this opportunity by exploring new targets and pathways for rare and neglected diseases, partnering with public and private organizations that support drug discovery for these diseases, and utilizing natural products as fragment libraries for screening and optimization. For instance, the Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases (TRND) program is part of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The TRND program aims to facilitate the development of drugs for rare and neglected diseases by providing scientific and operational support, such as preclinical testing, regulatory guidance, and clinical trial design. The TRND program collaborates with academic researchers, biotechnology companies, and patient advocacy groups to advance promising drug candidates through the drug development pipeline. Such factors create opportunities for market growth.

Regional Analysis

Based on region, the global fragment-based drug discovery market is bifurcated into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. 

North America Dominates the Global Market

North America is the most significant global fragment-based drug discovery market shareholder and is expected to expand substantially during the forecast period. This is due to the many biopharmaceutical companies actively involved in drug discovery and development for various therapeutic areas, such as central nervous system disorders, oncology, infectious diseases, etc. These companies use fragment-based drug discovery as a complementary or alternative approach to conventional methods, such as high-throughput screening and structure-based drug design, to identify novel and potent lead compounds. It also has a strong presence of academic and research institutions collaborating with industry players and providing fragment screening and optimization services. These institutions have access to advanced biophysical techniques and technologies, such as X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance, surface plasmon resonance, and others that enable efficient and accurate detection and characterization of fragment-target interaction.

The Food and Drug Administration incentives and programs for rare and neglected diseases are designed to facilitate and accelerate drug development for these conditions, which often have limited or no effective treatments. The FDA offers various incentives and programs to encourage and facilitate the discovery and development of new drugs for rare and neglected diseases, which affect millions of people worldwide but have limited or no effective treatments available. These include orphan drug designation, fast track designation, priority review designation, breakthrough therapy designation, rare pediatric disease designation, orphan product grants program, and rare neurodegenerative disease grant program. These incentives and programs provide benefits such as tax credits, user fee waivers, market exclusivity, priority review, accelerated approval, funding for clinical trials and natural history studies, and guidance on efficient drug development. By providing these incentives and programs, the FDA aims to enhance patients' health and quality of life with rare and neglected diseases and address their unmet medical needs.

Moreover, the discovery of a novel inhibitor of KRAS G12C, a mutant protein that drives several types of cancer, by a team of researchers from Amgen, Astex Pharmaceuticals, and the University of California, San Francisco. The inhibitor, named AMG 510, was identified using a combination of fragment screening, structure-based design, and medicinal chemistry optimization. AMG 510 is the first covalent inhibitor of KRAS G12C to enter clinical trials and has shown promising results in patients with non-small cell lung cancer and colorectal cancer.

The Asia-Pacific is projected to grow significantly over the forecast period. Its growing population increases the demand for new and effective drugs for various diseases and conditions. The region has a high prevalence of infectious and chronic diseases, such as tuberculosis, malaria, diabetes, and cancer, which require novel and innovative therapies. The region has a favorable regulatory environment that supports the approval and commercialization of new drugs. For example, China has implemented reforms to speed up the drug review and approval process, such as accepting foreign clinical trial data and granting priority review for innovative drugs. Moreover, the region has a low drug discovery and development cost, attracting foreign investments and collaborations. For example, India has a large pool of skilled and qualified scientists, engineers, and technicians offering high-quality and cost-effective service for fragment-based drug discovery.

Segmental Analysis

The global fragment-based drug discovery market is bifurcated into service components, end-users, and applications.

Based on service components, the global market is segmented into fragment screening and fragment optimization.

Fragment optimization of the service component segment is the dominant segment in the Fragment-Based Drug Discovery Market because it involves the improvement of the binding affinity, selectivity, and physicochemical properties of the initial fragment hits. Fragment optimization is a crucial step in drug discovery, as it transforms weak and non-drug-like fragments into potent and drug-like lead compounds. Fragment optimization requires the application of various biophysical techniques, computational methods, and medicinal chemistry principles to achieve the desired optimization goals. It provides a valuable and efficient service for the development of novel and effective drugs for various therapeutic areas. Therefore, fragment optimization of the service component segment is dominant in the Fragment-Based Drug Discovery Market.

Based on end-users, the global market is segmented into biopharmaceutical companies, CROs, and academic and research institutions.

Biopharmaceutical companies of the end-user segment as a dominant segment in the fragment-based drug discovery market is the increasing demand for novel and effective drugs for various therapeutic areas, such as oncology, central nervous system disorders, infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, and inflammation and autoimmune diseases. Fragment-based drug discovery offers several advantages for biopharmaceutical companies, such as reducing the cost and time of drug discovery, exploring new chemical space and binding modes, targeting challenging and unexplored protein classes, and enhancing the potency and selectivity of lead compounds. Biopharmaceutical companies are the primary consumers of fragment-based drug discovery services, as they use this approach to identify and optimize lead compounds for their drug development pipelines.

Based on application, the global market is segmented into oncology, central nervous system (CNS) disorders, infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, and inflammation and autoimmune diseases.

Oncology is one of the dominant segments in the fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) market, as it is a major therapeutic area with high unmet medical needs and a large patient population. FBDD can offer a novel and efficient way to discover new drugs for cancer, as it can target challenging and unexplored protein classes, such as protein-protein interactions, allosteric sites, and membrane proteins, and can reduce the cost and time of drug discovery, which are major barriers for developing drugs for oncology. FBDD can benefit from the availability of natural products, which are rich sources of diverse and complex fragments that can modulate biological targets involved in oncology.

Recent Developments

• January 2024 – Experts from the American Association for Cancer Research predicted that artificial intelligence, chemical technology, and small-molecule chemical probes would provide the cutting-edge resources needed to expand and accelerate drug discovery for cancer. According to the experts from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), these resources can enable more efficient and effective screening, optimization, and validation of potential drug candidates, as well as more precise and personalized treatment options for cancer patients.
• September 2023 – Researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research in London developed a new test that makes the early stages of drug discovery more efficient. The test can quantify the strength of the interactions between fragments and target proteins, allowing researchers to select only the most active and promising compounds. The researchers demonstrated the utility of the R2KD test by screening a library of fragments against a known complex of two proteins involved in cancer and validating the results with other techniques.