In medicine, biotechnology and pharmacology, drug discovery is the process by which drugs are discovered and/or designed.
In the past most drugs have been discovered either by identifying the active ingredient from traditional remedies or by serendipitous discovery.
A new approach has been to understand how disease and infection are controlled at the molecular and physiological level and to target specific entities based on this knowledge.
The process of drug discovery involves the identification of candidates, synthesis, characterization, screening, and assays for therapeutic efficacy.
Once a compound has shown its value in these tests, it will begin the process of drug development prior to clinical trials.
For more information about the topic Drug discovery, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:
Clinical trial — The most commonly performed clinical trials evaluate new drugs, medical devices, biologics, or other interventions to patients in strictly ... >
read more
Antiviral drug — Antiviral drugs are a class of medication used specifically for treating viral infections. Like antibiotics, specific antivirals are used for ... >
read more 
Biopharmaceutical — Biopharmaceuticals are medical drugs produced using biotechnology. They are proteins (including antibodies), nucleic acids (DNA, RNA or antisense ... >
read more
Pharmaceutical company — A pharmaceutical company, or drug company, is a commercial business licensed to research, develop, market and/or distribute drugs, most commonly in ... >
read more
Pharmacology — Pharmacology is the study of how substances interact with living organisms to produce a change in function. If substances have medicinal properties, ... >
read more
Detox — Detox, short for detoxification, in general is the removal of toxic substances from the body. It is one of the functions of the liver and kidneys, ... >
read more
HPV vaccine — Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine research focuses on the prevention of diseases, such as cervical cancer and genital warts, caused by sexually ... >
read more
Double blind — The double blind method is an important part of the scientific method, used to prevent research outcomes from being 'influenced' by the placebo ... >
read more 
Personalized medicine — Currently, much of medical practice is based on "standards of care" that are determined by averaging responses across large cohorts. The ... >
read more
Substance abuse — Substance abuse refers to the overindulgence in and dependence on a stimulant, depressant, chemical substance, herb (plant) or fungus leading to ... >
read more
Note: This page refers to an article that is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the article Drug discovery at Wikipedia.org. See the Wikipedia copyright page for more details. Editor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Recommend this page on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:
Other bookmarking and sharing tools:
Blog
Save
Email
Print
Share
more 