End of Find-a-Drug FAQ's

End of Find-a-Drug

When will Find-a-Drug end?
The entire project ends on 16 December 2005.
We are obviously very grateful for the contributions of members and will continue to work with our collaborators.

Will the software be automatically uninstalled?
We have tested an automatical uninstall procedure which we plan to make available.

Why is Find-a-Drug ending?
We have processed more than the 250 queries we originally envisaged. We have also targetted most of the recognised protein targets for the major project areas. Where we have been able to obtain experimental data to confirm biological activity, the predictions have exceeded our expectations.
We have concluded that there are insufficient worthwhile protein queries to continue the project into 2006 and have decided to close the project on 16 December 2005. We will continue to make some new queries available over the coming weeks but will not accept results after the close of the project.

Will the forum be available after the project ends?
We see no reason to close it on the 16 December but we do not envisage it to remain available for weeks. Thereafter we will use a notice page at all the usual website addresses.

Is the decision to close Find-a-Drug financial?
No.

Couldn't you process more molecules for existing queries?
The minimum number of molecules we screen (40 million) is already more than 10x the number routinely screened by typical major pharmaceutical companies. Only for carefully selected queries where we have reason to believe that the additional results will be used have we increased the number of molecules screened.

What is happening with the results to date?
We will continue to work with existing partners as well as seek additional collaborations.

How I can find out about progress in the future?
We will handle news of progress on a case by case basis. Any major announcements will be picked by the Distributing Computing news sites.