AACF - Submitting Compounds

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Submitting Compounds

In order to begin participating in the NIAID Antiviral Screening Program, a potential supplier needs to complete a Screening Agreement. The Supplier Agreement is a legal document between NIAID and the supplier’s institution. The document protects the supplier from violations of confidentiality.

The supplier will be assigned an AACF contact and a supplier identification number. All correspondence should go through the AACF contact and the supplier ID number used for identification. Compounds should be submitted through the AACF contact with structures and a rationale for screening. The compounds will then be evaluated based on criteria such as structural novelty and similarity to known, active antiviral agents as well as the rationale for submission, program priorities, and budgeted capacities in the antiviral screens requested. As a general policy, the program is searching for novel therapeutic agents and compounds should be submitted to enter in vitro assays with follow-up in vivo screening, if appropriate activity criteria are met. If a compound is not expected to be active in vitro (e.g. immunomodulators), the supplier may request direct in vivo screening with all appropriate supporting information.

Along with the compounds, certain information must also be provided. The required information includes, but is not limited to, the following:

chemical structure
solubility
chemical name (IUPAC preferred)
supplier's compound ID number or code
molecular formula
molecular weight

To facilitate the transmission of data, all information may be transferred to the AACF electronically, either on diskette or by e-mail attachment. If mail correspondence is necessary, compound information may be mailed along with the samples using an AACF Compound Submission Form (see procedures below).

Browse to a description of the assays used to screen the candidate compounds and for access to NIAID/DMID resources for antiviral evaluation.

Official Submission Procedures

If you are interested in participating in the NIAID Antiviral Screening Program, please contact Dr. Christopher Tseng, the NIAID Project Officer for the program, at ctseng@niaid.nih.gov, for more information. At that time, you will receive an official copy of the NIAID Screening Agreement (and relevant instructions) which must be properly executed prior to participating in the program.

Before the agreement is executed, the supplier should select compounds for screening in consultation with their specific AACF contact and should submit a confidential list of compound structures, preferably in electronic format. If appropriate, a visit with an AACF medicinal chemist can be scheduled to discuss compound selection.

The Supplier’s AACF contact in consultation with other AACF medicinal chemists and the NIAID committees established to evaluate priorities for antiviral screening will ensure that candidate compounds are appropriate for screening in the assays requested and have not been previously submitted, and will then relay to the Supplier compounds that are acceptable for submission.

After the agreement is executed, the supplier should submit samples of each compound to be screened in vials, preferably of 1 dram size with screw caps; vials will be provided to Supplier, if requested. Vials should be clearly labeled with a Supplier compound identification number or code, and appropriate physical data should be submitted for each compound. Use a printed version of our AACF Compound Submission Form if desired. Please note that if providing < 3 mg in a single vial, it is necessary to provide exact sample weights on the vial, since such samples will not be re-weighed prior to screening. Click here to view a list of the compound amount requirements for a multitude of screening assays. Compounds and data sheets or diskettes should be shipped by express courier to the AACF repository facility:

AACF
Attention: Ellen Faaleolea
Southern Research Institute
431 Aviation Way
Frederick, MD 21701-4756

Help in compound submission (e.g., assistance in weighing/packaging samples, shipping expenses) may be available upon request.

The AACF repository will acknowledge receipt of compounds, schedule them for testing, and report data to Supplier as received from the screening facility.