Blog Archives

Database Release 2023.1

The latest release of the IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology database was made on 26th April 2023. This database release is version 2023.1, and is the first release this year. The following blog post gives details of the key content updates

Posted in Chemical curation, Database updates, Technical

Exploiting the Guide to Pharmacology substance (SID) tags in PubChem

This post on SID tagging has been reproduced, with permission, from Dr. Chris Southan’s original post in his blog – Bio <-> Chem.  It is intended to be user-orientated, those interested in the technicalities are welcome to contact the Guide

Posted in Chemical curation, Technical, Tutorials and Guides

GtoPdb NAR database issue 2018: Journal to database connectivity and journal to GtoPdb links

The following blog post acts as supplementary data to the 2018 NAR Database Issue Journal to Database connectivity The citation provenance of all entity records and contextual comments selected by the curators and NC-IUPHAR members in GtoPdb is supported by

Posted in Chemical curation

GtoPdb NAR database issue 2018: PubChem Content

The following blog post acts as supplementary data to the 2018 NAR Database Issue GtoPdb PubChem Content The GtoPdb PubChem integration strategy has been previously outlined (1). Since 2015 we have made nine PubChem submissions for new releases of our

Posted in Chemical curation, Publications

A Pharmacologists’ Guide to Resolving Chemical Structures and their Protein Targets from the Literature

This is an introduction to resolving bioactive ligands and their protein targets from the literature. It includes their conversion to standardised molecular identifiers so these can be communicated  to the Guide to PHARMACOLOGY (GtoPdb) team. (n.b. identifying what is already

Posted in Chemical curation, Drug targets, Technical

Case studies in chemical curation III: complexes and component mixtures

The issue of specified mixtures that include pharmacologically active chemical structures is complex and curatorially challenging, as described by this presentation on the topic. This post will briefly cover our handing of salts. A substance in an approved drug preparation may

Posted in Chemical curation

Case study in chemical curation II: Racemates and how to represent them

Where the drug is a racemate, should we go ‘flat’? Example: ketoconazole Many drugs are racemates, as indicated by their INN document or FDA label. This presents us with a curatorial decision: should we represent both of the enantiomers as

Posted in Chemical curation

Will the real drugs please stand up? Case studies in chemical curation I

Our database now contains over 6500 ligands, spanning 7 chemical classes. An important part of our curation work is to ensure the chemical structures of these ligands are accurate through both careful curation of new ligands and the running of

Posted in Chemical curation