Lead compound:
In
drug
discovery, a compound that shows some interesting biological
activity. The
molecular
structure of the lead compound is then varied -- perhaps
through a
chemical
library -- to find compounds that have better activity
and/or less side effects.
Molecule
A is a (hypothetical) lead compound, having some interesting
activity.
Molecule
A was modified to give
molecule
B, which has better activity and selectivity than
molecule
A. Further changes and refinements of
molecular
structure (
molecule
C,
molecule
D, etc.) ultimately resulted in the final
drug
having the best potency, selectivity, and other desirable
features.
