Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Shih and colleagues analyse comprehensive industry-wide data on drug development projects pursued during the past 20 years, classified according to the mechanism and indication for each project. Their findings indicate several points and trends that may be useful in understanding and improving the productivity of the pharmaceutical industry, including areas with substantial success or failure and the relative extent of novelty in completed and ongoing projects.
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the most intensively studied class of drug targets. This article presents a pioneering analysis of all GPCR-targeted drugs and agents that are currently in clinical trials, and discusses the trends across molecule types, drug targets and therapeutic indications.
