OpenEye is run differently than most other chemistry software companies, in part because, we are very focused on the science. In that, we have strong opinions about the right way to do computational drug design, and we are seldom shy about telling people. Our mantra has long been that the chemistry of molecular interactions boils down to shape and electrostatics. It should be obvious that doing both of those well is necessary for lead generation and optimization. It is sufficient, as well.
It should be also apparent that one simply can not do virtual lead generation unless one can screen databases of tens of millions of compounds. By focusing simply on the above two tenets and adhering to best programming practices, OpenEye software is able to vastly increase the scale of operation of computational chemistry in drug design.
When screening millions of compounds, speed is not the only important factor. Robustness also is critical, so that one corner case with unusual chemistry does not bring a program to a crashing halt. OpenEye has designed and tested all its software, including core cheminformatics libraries, with such robustness as a primary consideration.
Expect more about our scientific tenets here in the future, but in the meantime please browse the numerous OpenEye scientific presentations and a selected bibliography.
