ChEMBL_15 Released


We are pleased to announce the release of ChEMBL_15. This version of the database was prepared on 23rd January 2013 and contains:

1,434,432 compound records
1,254,575 compounds (of which 1,251,913 have mol files)
10,509,572 activities
679,259 assays
9,570 targets
48,735 documents
17 activity data sources

You can download the data from the ChEMBL ftpsite: ftp://ftp.ebi.ac.uk/pub/databases/chembl/ChEMBLdb/latest/

Please see chembl_15_release_notes.txt for full details of all changes in this release, including important schema changes!


Data changes since the last release:
We have made several major changes/additions to the data in ChEMBL_15:

  • Incorporation of data from the USP Dictionary of USAN and International Drug Names.
  • Incorporation of monoclonal antibody clinical candidates and sequences.
  • Creation of targets for protein complexes and protein families.
  • Standardisation of activity data and identification of potential issues.
  • Annotation of predicted compound binding domains for subset of activity data.

These data sets are described in more detail in the release notes and will also be the subject of future blog posts. In addition, we have incorporated new data from the following sources:

  • Open TG-GATEs
  • TP-search transporter database
  • MMV Malaria Box screening data
  • GSK Tuberculosis screening data
  • GSK deposited supplementary data
  • DNDi Trypanosoma brucei screening data
  • Harvard malaria screening data
  • WHO-TDR malaria screening data


Database changes since the last release:
This release of ChEMBL contains major changes to the schema and data model, particularly around the representation of protein targets. 

Please see the release notes, ERD and schema documentation for more details of these changes. We will also run a series of webinars over the coming weeks, describing the new schema and the changes.


Interface changes since the last release:
New data tables have been introduced to display search results and bioactivity data. These tables allow users to customise the display and choose which columns they want to include. By default, a standard set of columns are included in the view, but additional columns can be added by clicking on the show/hide button above the table.

A BLAST search for biotherapeutic drugs has been included on the 'Ligand Search' tab (formerly 'compound search'), allowing retrieval of protein drugs by sequence similarity.

The 'Browse Drugs' tab now includes information for monoclonal antibody clinical candidates and compounds with USANs in addition to approved drugs. Additional fields have been added and drug icons have been divided into two sets representing structure-specific information (green) and product-specific information (blue) - the latter are shown only for approved drugs.

(btw the picture above is built from ChEMBL assay descriptions - thanks to George)