Pharmaceutical Chemistry

Drug Discovery and Development

Drug discovery is a process which is intended to identify a small synthetic molecule or a large biomolecule for comprehensive evaluation as a potential drug candidate. Broadly, the modern drug discovery process includes identification of disease to be treated and its unmet medical need, selection of a druggable molecular target and its validation, in vitro assay development followed by high throughput screening of compound libraries against the target to identify hits, and hit optimization to generate lead compounds that exhibit adequate potency and selectivity towards the biological target in vitro and which demonstrate efficacy in animal models of disease. Subsequently, the lead compounds are further optimized to improve their efficacy and pharmacokinetics before they advance towards drug development.

Drug development process can be segregated into preclinical and clinical development stages. In preclinical development, toxicological and safety pharmacology studies of the candidate are conducted in order to establish the maximum safe concentrations in animals and determine the adverse effect potential of the drug-in-development. Additionally, studies are conducted to finalize cost-effective processes required for manufacturing the candidate drug as well as deciding on its best formulation. If the candidate exhibits sufficient efficacy and safety in preclinical evaluation, permission is sought from drug regulatory agencies to initiate its clinical development wherein the safety and efficacy of the drug candidate is assessed in pilot and pivotal studies.