To Affinity and Beyond: A Personal Reflection on the Design and Discovery of Drugs
Faced with new and as yet unmet medical need, the stark underperformance of the pharmaceutical discovery process is well described if not perfectly understood. Driven primarily by profit rather than societal need, the search for new pharmaceutical products—small molecule drugs, biologicals, and vacc...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-11-01
|
| Series: | Molecules |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/27/21/7624 |
| _version_ | 1797467018596712448 |
|---|---|
| author | Darren R. Flower |
| author_facet | Darren R. Flower |
| author_sort | Darren R. Flower |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Faced with new and as yet unmet medical need, the stark underperformance of the pharmaceutical discovery process is well described if not perfectly understood. Driven primarily by profit rather than societal need, the search for new pharmaceutical products—small molecule drugs, biologicals, and vaccines—is neither properly funded nor sufficiently systematic. Many innovative approaches remain significantly underused and severely underappreciated, while dominant methodologies are replete with problems and limitations. Design is a component of drug discovery that is much discussed but seldom realised. In and of itself, technical innovation alone is unlikely to fulfil all the possibilities of drug discovery if the necessary underlying infrastructure remains unaltered. A fundamental revision in attitudes, with greater reliance on design powered by computational approaches, as well as a move away from the commercial imperative, is thus essential to capitalise fully on the potential of pharmaceutical intervention in healthcare. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T18:47:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1944a313f8854c63a9f416aca4e40992 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1420-3049 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T18:47:40Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Molecules |
| spelling | doaj.art-1944a313f8854c63a9f416aca4e409922023-11-24T06:07:17ZengMDPI AGMolecules1420-30492022-11-012721762410.3390/molecules27217624To Affinity and Beyond: A Personal Reflection on the Design and Discovery of DrugsDarren R. Flower0Independent Interdisciplinary Consultant, Oxford, UKFaced with new and as yet unmet medical need, the stark underperformance of the pharmaceutical discovery process is well described if not perfectly understood. Driven primarily by profit rather than societal need, the search for new pharmaceutical products—small molecule drugs, biologicals, and vaccines—is neither properly funded nor sufficiently systematic. Many innovative approaches remain significantly underused and severely underappreciated, while dominant methodologies are replete with problems and limitations. Design is a component of drug discovery that is much discussed but seldom realised. In and of itself, technical innovation alone is unlikely to fulfil all the possibilities of drug discovery if the necessary underlying infrastructure remains unaltered. A fundamental revision in attitudes, with greater reliance on design powered by computational approaches, as well as a move away from the commercial imperative, is thus essential to capitalise fully on the potential of pharmaceutical intervention in healthcare.https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/27/21/7624drug discoverycomputational chemistrymolecular designpharmaceutical industryepistemiology |
| spellingShingle | Darren R. Flower To Affinity and Beyond: A Personal Reflection on the Design and Discovery of Drugs Molecules drug discovery computational chemistry molecular design pharmaceutical industry epistemiology |
| title | To Affinity and Beyond: A Personal Reflection on the Design and Discovery of Drugs |
| title_full | To Affinity and Beyond: A Personal Reflection on the Design and Discovery of Drugs |
| title_fullStr | To Affinity and Beyond: A Personal Reflection on the Design and Discovery of Drugs |
| title_full_unstemmed | To Affinity and Beyond: A Personal Reflection on the Design and Discovery of Drugs |
| title_short | To Affinity and Beyond: A Personal Reflection on the Design and Discovery of Drugs |
| title_sort | to affinity and beyond a personal reflection on the design and discovery of drugs |
| topic | drug discovery computational chemistry molecular design pharmaceutical industry epistemiology |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/27/21/7624 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT darrenrflower toaffinityandbeyondapersonalreflectiononthedesignanddiscoveryofdrugs |