The Drug Discoverer

Professor Paul Workman discusses the increased numbers of high-quality chemical tools available to study specific proteins in biomedical research, and what needs to be done to ensure they are used appropriately by biomedical researchers. Chemical probes, usually inhibitors, are getting better and better – and researchers using them need to catch up.

In a long read, Professor Paul Workman, Chief Executive and President of the ICR, and also a drug discovery scientist, reflects on the significance of the latest version of AlphaFold – a powerful AI system that has been applied to predict structures for almost 99% of human proteins – for fundamental research and drug discovery.

The UK’s science budget faces catastrophic cuts – on top of the alarming impact of Covid-19 on medical research organisations. Professor Paul Workman, Chief Executive of the ICR, warns that without a change in course from the Government, cancer research in the UK is heading for a perfect storm with an impact that could last decades.

Professor Paul Workman reflects in depth on his experience in trying to drug a particularly challenging cancer target, and why it is always important to be clear about the risks and benefits of a drug discovery project – and to share the results with the research community.

Professor Paul Workman argues that creating drugs is a bit like climbing mountains – and as with scaling a craggy slope versus a smooth wall of rock, tackling some disease targets is easier than others.

With the publication of a monograph in her honour, in which he contributed an article, Professor Paul Workman celebrates the outstanding scientific achievements of the late Dr Susan Lindquist in the field of protein folding and its application to cancer and neurodegenerative disease. He also explains how her work has underpinned several of his drug discovery projects at the ICR.

Professor Paul Workman explores how an understanding of the 'off-target' effects of drug treatments has the potential to help uncover contributions to both the beneficial action of drugs and also the unwanted side-effects.

While curing cancer will always be the ultimate goal for the ICR's researchers, Professor Paul Workman argues that it's vital we understand and accept new evolutionary approaches to treatment that can control even advanced cancers long term.

If science in the UK is going to remain world class, it’s crucial that we have a clear plan for the future that secures research funding, ensures freedom for scientists to work across borders, and provides regulatory alignment, argues the ICR’s Chief Executive Professor Paul Workman.

Professor Paul Workman argues that concerted action is needed to accelerate patients’ access to today’s new treatments – and incentivise creation of the innovative new medicines of tomorrow that will lead to step changes in clinical outcome.

Professor Paul Workman cautions that aggressive military language can be unhelpful in describing some patients’ experience of living with cancer – and oversimplifies the overall challenge of cancer research

An ICR team contributed to a major collaborative study discovering a new treatment approach for chordoma – the disease from which my own mother died.

Our CEO, Professor Paul Workman, discusses the findings of the ICR's new drug access report, which asks how we can best harness advances in science to bring innovative drugs to patients.

Professor Paul Workman reflects on what a swashbuckling archaeologist can teach us about the importance of choosing a chemical probe wisely – and how new initiatives to guide the selection can make cancer research more robust.

ICR Chief Executive Professor Paul Workman talks about the launch of Probe Miner – the new web resource for objective, large-scale analysis of chemical probes.

ICR Chief Executive Paul Workman blogs about a new article we have published in Cancer Cell that seeks to draw to the attention of the bioscience community the serious dangers of using flawed chemical probes – or tool compounds – in mechanistic investigations and target validation for translational research.

Our Chief Executive pays tribute to Professor Patrick Johnston, Vice Chancellor of Queen's University Belfast and formerly Director of the Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology, who died this month.

Our Chief Executive remembers Professor Ken Harrap, a pioneer of cancer research who was instrumental to the discovery of life saving treatments including carboplatin and raltitrexed, who died last week.

ICR Chief Executive Professor Paul Workman took part in a debate at the NCRI conference on how to prioritise research spending — on creating new treatments or repurposing old ones. Here he outlines the arguments in favour of innovation.

Professor Paul Workman comments on the recently published findings of the Accelerated Access Review and the importance of speeding up the adoption of innovative drugs and medical technologies.

Professor Paul Workman, Chief Executive of The Institute of Cancer Research, London, sets out what needs to happen for Big Data to deliver on its promise to revolutionise cancer research and care.

Professor Paul Workman blogs about a new test for childhood cancer which hit the headlines yesterday — a multi-gene panel that should speed progress to targeted therapy.

Professor Paul Workman comments on the recent decision by NICE to approve abiraterone for men with advanced prostate cancer and offers thoughts on the drug approval process.

Professor Paul Workman introduces his special three-part essay, inspired by the memoir The Death of Cancer, and reflecting on five decades of progress in cancer research and treatment.

Professor Paul Workman outlines five solutions to the challenge of the broken drug system of drug discovery and development, which is failing to deliver enough innovative new cancer drugs to those who need them.