adj.
Relating to a disease-causing molecule for which it is extremely difficult or impossible to create a drug that inhibits the molecule.
Example Citations:
Most drugs work by blocking the action of a protein in the body. But some proteins, by dint of their location or structure, cannot easily be inhibited and are said to be 'undruggable.'
—Andrew Pollack, " Fever to Harness RNA Interference Cools: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/science/08rna.html," The New York Times, February 8, 2011
"These six presentations represent our continued success in addressing the elusive mGluR targets and re-affirm our leadership position in addressing important previously undruggable targets with oral small molecule allosteric modulators," said Bharatt Chowrira, CEO of Addex.
—" Addex to Present Progress on Multiple Allosteric Modulator Programs for Neurodegenerative and other Neurological Disorders: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/03/idUS166120+03-Oct-2011+HUG20111003," Reuters, October 3, 2011
Earliest Citation:
The Human Genome Project has ensured that an unprecedented number of potential molecular targets are now in the public domain, but scientists do not yet know very much about them. Nor do they yet have technologies that are capable of coping with this target-rich environment, a fact that is likely to result in a massive increase in the number of 'undruggable' targets.
—Dr Nick Davies and Dr Steve Arlington, " The new blockbusters: healthcare packages for particular disease pathologies: http://www.ddw-online.com/s/winter-2002/p148514/the-new-blockbusters-healthcare-packages-for-particular-disease-pathologies.html," Drug Discovery World, July 18, 2001
Notes:
Related Words:
Categories:
This is just the opposite of "druggable", which is at least as widely used in the business.
New words. 2013.