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Despite the clear need for better therapies for psychiatric disorders such as depression and schizophrenia, novel drugs — particularly those that could revolutionize treatment — have been rare in recent years. Following a symposium in which the underlying reasons for this problem were discussed, a group of experts from across the field of neuroscience highlight key advances in our understanding of psychiatric disorders, and propose steps that can be taken to improve the effectiveness of drug discovery in this field.
The intrinsic robustness of biological systems is a key factor preventing the success of potential drugs that target specific molecules. Using examples based on existing drugs, Kitano discusses how a greater consideration of the importance of robustness could influence the design of new drugs intended to control complex systems.
Fragment-based drug design involves screening a small number of low-molecular-mass compounds with the aim of identifying low-affinity 'fragments' that are well-suited for optimization into more potent compounds. Hajduk and Greer describe the evolution of this approach into a valuable alternative to high-throughput screening for the discovery of lead compounds, and highlight lessons learned from its application over the past decade.
In this Review, Loging and colleagues discuss how high-throughput techniques in electronic biology can utilize the vast range of life sciencein silicoresources, and examine how best to apply these techniques to aid the drug discovery process.
Lipophilic, poorly water-soluble drug candidates are common outcomes of drug discovery programmes. Porter and colleagues discuss mechanisms by which lipids and lipidic excipients can improve oral absorption of lipophilic drugs, and provide a perspective on the future applications of lipid-based delivery systems.
