The Selection Committees of the three 2008 EFMC Awards chaired by the EFMC President, Roberto Pellicciari, have just announced the names of the winners. They are:

• Nauta Award for Pharmacochemistry: Hugo Kubinyi, University of Heidelberg
• UCB-Ehrlich Award for Excellence in Medicinal Chemistry: Peter H. Seeberger, ETH Zuerich
• Prous Institute – Overton and Meyer Award for New Technologies in Drug Discovery: Steven Ley, University of Cambridge

The Awards will be presented to the winners on August 31, 2008 during the opening ceremony of the XXth EFMC-ISMC Symposium that will be held in Vienna, Austria, from Aug. 31 to Sept. 4, 2008. Awards Plenary Lecture for the winners have also been scheduled.
For details, see www.ismc2008.org

Medicinal Chemistry, interdependent , but independent; where to place it in academic curricula?

In some European Countries Medicinal Chemistry still is not fully recognized as independent discipline. In this perspective Henk Timmerman outlines necessary steps to guarantee that "society" can benefit optimally from the important contributions Medicinal Chemistry gives to the design, synthesis and development of better and safer medicines.

By Henk Timmerman

The Research Unit in Biomedical Informatics (GRIB), Barcelona

In this issue we feature the Research Unit in Biomedical Informatics (GRIB), a joint research unit of the IMIM-Hospital del Mar and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. The GRIB is headed by Prof. Ferran Sanz, President of EFMC 2003-2005.

By Gerhard F. Ecker

Since India joined the GATT and WHO agreements, which permit product patents, the demands for Medicinal Chemistry began to grow. Post-2005, both multinational and major domestic pharmaceutical companies in India are experiencing a paradigm shift from business-driven research to research-driven business, which is also reflected in a reorientation of the Medicinal Chemistry education.

By Noel J. de Souza

Call of abstracts for the XXth EFMC-ISMC 2008, which will take place from August 31 to September 4 in Vienna is open. Deadline for submission of abstracts and early registration is April 10.

By Peter Ettmayer