Systematic analysis of public domain compound potency data identifies selective molecular scaffolds across druggable target families.

Molecular scaffolds that yield target family-selective compounds are of high interest in pharmaceutical research. There continues to be considerable debate in the field as to whether chemotypes with a priori selectivity for given target families and/or targets exist and how they might be identified. What do currently available data tell us? We present a systematic and comprehensive selectivity-centric analysis of public domain target-ligand interactions. More than 200 molecular scaffolds are identified in currently available active compounds that are selective for established target families. A subset of these scaffolds is found to produce compounds with high selectivity for individual targets among closely related ones. These scaffolds are currently underrepresented in approved drugs.