(Yicai Global) March. 26 -- China's Chongqing University has teamed up with Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, or ETH Zurich, to establish a DNA-encoded molecular library to enable rapid synthesis and screening of molecules, which could significantly shorten the development cycle of targeted therapeutic drugs. 

The research results have been published on Nature Chemistry, a leading academic journal in the field, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday. The molecular library contains more than 35 million types of compounds and can shorten the molecular screening cycle from a few years to several months, said Li Yizhou, the author of the original thesis on the subject and a researcher from the school of pharmaceutical sciences of Chongqing University.

"If the development of a particular targeted drug is a lock, then the molecular library is a collection of keys," said Li, adding "The traditional screening method has to try each key to unlock. It will take 20 years to screen 5 million molecules, thus the slow and costly development of a new drug."

The new DNA-encoded molecular library attaches a barcode-like label to each molecule. It only takes scanning to identify the properties of molecules, which shortens the screening time of millions of molecules to several months, and thus makes the development of new drugs quicker and cheaper.