Drug Discovery

Introduction

Drug discovery is the process whereby new medications are discovered. In the past, drugs were discovered through the identification of active ingredients from traditional medicines. This consequently led to the exploitation of traditional medicines, which were later found to be of positive impact to the human body. However, due to the emergence of the new technology, new methods of drug discovery have been invented, thus the use of chemical laboratories in the discovery of drugs has been on the rise. In a bid to understand drug discovery, this paper will describe the process of drug discovery, its importance, and the type of personnel involved in the process of drug discovery.

The Process of Drug Discovery

The process of drug discovery is very long, and it can therefore be reduced to five categories which are:

Research and early development is the basic research process, where researchers get to look at the underlying mechanisms or the causes of a given disease (Ng, 2009). Researchers then look at the new chemical entities which display promising activity contrary to a specific biological target, which is believed to be significant for the disease. Preclinical research clinical trials cannot begin before preclinical research. The main objective of this process is to provide the ultimate safety of the product. In chemical and pharmaceutical development, researchers tend to design a quality product and its process of manufacture in order to deliver the desired performance of the product. Clinical research, in this process, clinical trials are conducted thus collecting both safety and efficiency data of the new drug. Non-clinical data of the drug is also collected, thus ensuring it provides the best results (Cooper & Mayr, 2011). Finally, in the chemical and pharmaceutical production, this is the process whereby the drug is approved, hence the manufacture and production of the drug begins.

Importance of Drug Discovery

Drug discovery targets to provide new and effective medicine, in order to deal with a unique ailment. This is consequently very important, as it allows researchers to come up with effective drugs, which can combat ailments which cannot be easily treated by ordinary drugs (Cooper & Mayr, 2011). In addition, drug discovery makes it easier for paramedics to understand new sources of medical drugs. The sources of drugs changes according to the way researchers explore and research for new sources of drugs (Ng, 2009).

Personnel involved in Drug Discovery

Drug discovery is a costly exercise, which involves different entities which come together in order to facilitate the discovery of the new drug (Cooper & Mayr, 2011). Private companies, may provide scientists, who work together with medical University students and scientists from government laboratories in order to explore the new drug. The process requires these three groups to work together, thus being able to come up with the best sources of drugs, hence being able to produce the best results, which is coming up with an effective drug (Ng, 2009).

Conclusion    

This paper has discussed the process of drug discovery, where it was evident that in order to discover a drug, five steps need to be followed, in order to produce a highly effective drug. In addition, the paper has also looked at the importance of drug discovery, where it discussed how the discovery of new drugs leads to the production of effective drugs. Finally, the paper has provided a list of personnel involved in the discovery of drugs, where it discuss how costly the discovery of drugs is, thus requiring different entities to work together in order to facilitate the discovery of the new drug. 

Reference

Ng, R. (2009). Drugs: From discovery to approval. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons.

Cooper, M. A., & Mayr, L. (2011). Label-free technologies for drug discovery. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K: John Wiley & Sons.