NEW APPROACHES AND TECHNOLOGIES IN DRUG DESIGN AND DISCOVERY

Traditional and novel approaches to drug design and screening techniqu es and strategies are described, and the potential benefits of new tec hnologies are discussed. Sophisticated new approaches and technologies in the discovery and design of new drugs are replacing the traditiona l methods. Rational or structure-based methods of drug design and disc overy integrate techniques of x-ray crystallography, computational che mistry, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy are becoming the p redominant methods. New technologies and methods for drug screening ma y yield significant savings in time and money, as well as increased di versity and specificity of lead compounds. Intense research activity i s now being focused on small-molecule structure-based drug design, in which drugs would mimic the complex molecular interactions of natural proteins. The new approaches and technologies hold promise for dramati c therapeutic advances, particularly in the areas of transcriptionally active drugs and gene therapy. Rapid advances in drug design and scre ening, brought about through new technologies, may yield significant t herapeutic advances and cost-effective therapies.