Recognizing molecules with drug-like properties

A variety of successful approaches to the problem of recognizing 'drug-like ' molecules have been employed. These range from simple counting schemes su ch as the Lipinski 'rule of five' to the analysis of the multidimensional ' chemistry space' occupied by drugs, to neural network learning systems. Wit h this variety of tools, it now appears possible to design libraries that a re enriched in compounds which have desirable or 'drug-like' properties. Ve rifying the robustness of these methods, and extending them, will form the basis of research in this field during the next few years.