CHALLENGES FOR MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY

Medicinal chemistry has become the most time-consuming step in the dru g discovery process, and new discovery technologies are likely to incr ease the burden on lead optimization and refinement. Although medicina l chemists are able to optimize hits/leads very quickly and successful ly with regard to potency, improving the kinetic, metabolic and toxico logical properties of a compound remains a difficult challenge. The au thor examines the role of the medicinal chemist in this increasingly c omplex and changing environment.