: Drug Discovery Articles
Review: Molecular imaging in drug developmentMolecular imaging can allow the non-invasive assessment of biological and biochemical processes in living subjects. Such technologies therefore have the potential to enhance our understanding of disease and drug activity during preclinical and clinical drug development, which could aid decisions to select candidates that seem Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, vol. 7 #7, pp591-607 |
Perspective: Creating and evaluating genetic tests predictive of drug responseA key goal of pharmacogenetics — the use of genetic variation to elucidate inter-individual variation in drug treatment response — is to aid the development of predictive genetic tests that could maximize drug efficacy and minimize drug toxicity. The completion of the Human Genome Project Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, vol. 7 #7, pp568-574 |
Review: The exploration of macrocycles for drug discovery — an underexploited structural classMacrocyclic natural products have evolved to fulfil numerous biochemical functions, and their profound pharmacological properties have led to their development as drugs. A macrocycle provides diverse functionality and stereochemical complexity in a conformationally pre-organized ring structure. This can result in high affinity and selectivity for Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, vol. 7 #7, pp608-624 |
Perspective: What drives success for specialty pharmaceuticals?Specialty pharmaceuticals have become increasingly important in the global pharmaceutical landscape. Numerous large pharmaceutical companies are moving towards developing therapies for specialty markets, which are attractive owing to factors including the established commercial track record and lower commercial infrastructure costs. In this article, we analyse Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, vol. 7 #7, pp563-567 |
Review: Purinergic signalling and disorders of the central nervous systemPurines have key roles in neurotransmission and neuromodulation, with their effects being mediated by the purine and pyrimidine receptor subfamilies, P1, P2X and P2Y. Recently, purinergic mechanisms and specific receptor subtypes have been shown to be involved in various pathological conditions including brain trauma and Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, vol. 7 #7, pp575-590 |