Regulatory bodies must balance the competing priorities of approving new drugs as rapidly as possible and guaranteeing their safe use. Two articles this month focus on efforts to improve on the current situation. Schreiner discusses the impact of recent initiatives to reverse the long-standing neglect of paediatric drug development (which has led to widespread off-label prescribing), and Schmidt and Wong are optimistic that the recent streamlining of the FDA's approval process will bring more drugs to market in a shorter time. High-throughput of another kind — the use of tissue microarrays for target validation — is highlighted by Sauter and colleagues, who focus, in particular, on the applications of tissue microarrays in the analysis of tumour tissue. Some endocrine tumours are presently treated with analogues of the cyclopeptide somatostatins, which have broad inhibitory effects on hormone secretion. Weckbecker and colleagues provide a comprehensive summary of the biology of somatostatins, and the chemistry and therapeutic potential of somatostatin analogues. Peptides with neuroendocrine activity are implicated in many behavioural disorders, from those that affect feeding, to depression and anxiety. Inui argues that the identification of single nucleotide polymorphisms in genes encoding neuropeptides and their receptors will aid the development of novel therapeutics. Dysfunction of the connective tissue of the nervous system might contribute to neuropathic pain, so targeting glial cells rather than neurons could allow more effective control of pathogenic pain states, according to Watkins and Maier. This month's 'Fresh from the pipeline' looks at the natural product daptomycin, a first-in-class antibacterial drug. And rounding off the issue, Khosla and Keasling describe the enhancement of natural-product drug discovery that has resulted from the convergence of genetic engineering and biosynthetic chemistry.