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Description about drug discovery

Valade A

Drugs were previously found by finding the active ingredient in traditional treatments or by chance, as with penicillin. In a method known as classical pharmacology, chemical libraries of synthesized small molecules, natural products, or extracts were screened in intact cells or complete organisms to identify compounds that had a desired therapeutic effect. After the human genome's sequencing enabled quick cloning and synthesis of vast quantities of purified proteins, reverse pharmacology (high throughput screening of massive chemical libraries against isolated biological targets thought to be disease-modifying) has become routine practice. The efficacy of hits from these screens is then investigated in cells and later in animals.