Medicinal Chemistry
An Introduction
Chapter One
An introduction to drugs,
their action and discovery
1.1 Introduction
The primary objective of medicinal chemistry is the design and discovery of new
compounds that are suitable for use as drugs. This process involves a team of workers from
a wide range of disciplines such as chemistry, biology, biochemistry, pharmacology,
mathematics, medicine and computing, amongst others.
The discovery or design of a new drug not only requires a discovery or design process
but also the synthesis of the drug, a method of administration, the development of tests and
procedures to establish how it operates in the body and a safety assessment. Drug discovery
may also require fundamental research into the biological and chemical nature of the
diseased state. These and other aspects of drug design and discovery require input from
specialists in many other fields and so medicinal chemists need to have an outline
knowledge of the relevant aspects of these fields.
1.2 What are drugs and why do we need new ones?
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