Drug Discovery

Drug discovery is a process where new drug targets are identified and novel drug-like small molecules or biological therapeutic agents are discovered. The process contains several phases which include:

Basic research

Target discovery and validation

Hit to lead

Lead optimization 

Drug Development

Once a selected candidate drug, or a ‘clinical lead’, has been discovered, it will go through a development process governed by regulatory and safety requirements before the product can enter the market. The drug development process is comprised of two main partly overlapping phases, preclinical and clinical development.

Preclinical development

Clinical development