The allure of targets for novel drugs

The challenges of bringing new medicines to patients have been extensively discussed and debated, including consideration of the contribution that academic laboratories can make. At the University of Strathclyde, drug discovery has been a continuing focal activity since the 1960s, and in the past 30 years, the author has led or contributed to many projects of different character and for diverse diseases. A feature common to these projects is the extension of concepts of molecular and biological targets in drug discovery research. In mechanistic terms, these have included compounds that are activators and not inhibitors, and in particular multitargeted compounds. With respect to relevance to disease, schizophrenia, pulmonary disfunction, autoimmune, and infectious disease are most relevant. These projects are discussed in the context of classical medicinal chemistry and more recent concepts in and approaches to drug discovery.