35, 27, 24, 17, 21. Although this sequence of numbers might not be instantly recognizable written out, they will be familiar to many in their commonly used form as a graph showing the number of new molecular entities (NMEs) approved by the FDA annually in the past five years — a popular benchmark of the state of the pharmaceutical industry. Less well-known, though, is the nature of the drugs behind these data, and providing an accessible overview of all of last year's 21 NMEs is a key aim of this supplement. New biologic therapeutic products for which regulatory responsibility has now been transferred from the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) to the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) — such as monoclonal antibodies — are also included.

The format of the supplement builds on that of 'Fresh from the pipeline', a regular section in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery that features exciting recently approved drugs, chosen on the basis of their therapeutic novelty or importance, and/or their potential market impact. Explaining the science behind a featured drug on one page, and providing expert analysis of its market prospects on another, these short snapshots aim to summarize all the essential information about each drug in just two pages.

This supplement contains six sections, in which last year's NMEs and new biologic therapeutic products as defined above have been grouped into the following broad disease areas: cancer, cardiology and vascular disorders, immune and inflammatory disorders, infectious diseases, metabolic and other disorders, and neurological disorders. Within each section, the two-page articles on those drugs originally covered in 'Fresh from the pipeline' — denoted here with a pill icon on the contents pages — have been updated as appropriate in the light of changes in the respective markets since their original publication. Each section is then completed with explanations of the science behind the other NMEs and new biologics approved in that disease area last year, following a style similar to that of the 'science' pages on the featured drugs.

Looking through the supplement as a whole, it is apparent that the path to a new drug can be far from the linear process frequently depicted. And so, overall, our hope in producing this supplement is that it will form a valuable reference manual for anyone interested in recent successes in drug discovery and development, perhaps providing opportunities to gain from the experience of others.