Pitching Plenty to Many

Plexxikon Inc. thinks the drug industry's dismal rates of new drug discovery are due to the fact that people keep finding what are, essentially, the same old compounds. This start-up is building a library of deliberately small molecules, on the theory that they'll have a better chance of binding targets. Those that get close to an active site may then be modified to become better drugs. Plexxikon figures its lowest common denominator approach, enabled by crystallography, will let it patent around basic ways that compounds interact with important protein families. Its methods may help other firms develop successful compounds--but may also stake valuable turf for Plexxikon.