Tag: Drug discovery

Despite common assumptions, ivermectin is not made from a plant at all, but rather derived from a microbe first discovered in a Japanese soil sample. This discovery by microbiologist Satoshi Ōmura led to the development of a 'wonder drug' that has had an immense impact on global public health.

Forecasts predict that between 2025 and 2050, bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR) will be directly responsible for 39 million deaths globally [1.6.3]. Amid this crisis, the critical question remains: are new antibiotics being discovered quickly enough to counter this threat?

In 2019, drug-resistant bacterial infections were directly responsible for 1.27 million deaths globally. This stark statistic highlights the urgency of the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis and brings into focus the critical question: why can't we find new antibiotics to replenish our diminishing arsenal?

In pharmacology, approximately 7% of approved drugs did not have a known target at the time of approval, highlighting the complexity of how drugs work. Understanding **what does mechanism of action mean** (MOA) involves exploring the specific biochemical interactions a drug has with the body, which is crucial for modern drug development and therapeutic applications.

In a 2024 study, researchers demonstrated that high-quality data representation could enable a conventional machine learning algorithm to achieve 99% accuracy in a virtual screening task, far surpassing more complex deep learning methods. This illustrates that a key requirement for *in silico* screening is not just powerful algorithms, but meticulously curated, high-fidelity data.

According to a recent industry analysis, the market for in silico technologies was valued at approximately $8.3 billion in 2022, demonstrating its significant impact on pharmaceutical research. This article explores what is the meaning of in silico drug discovery, explaining how it uses computational techniques to accelerate and refine the development of new medicines.

Despite advances in research, the overall probability of success for new molecular entities is only about 12%. Rational drug design, a systematic and knowledge-based approach, directly addresses this challenge by meticulously defining what are the four steps in rational drug design to increase efficiency and success rates in creating new medications.

With an average cost often exceeding $1 billion, the path to bringing a new medicine to market is long and complex. Understanding **what are the 4 steps of drug development** provides critical insight into the rigorous, multi-stage process that ensures new therapies are both safe and effective before they can reach patients.

With a single drug discovery program costing hundreds of millions to billions of dollars and taking over a decade to complete, modern pharmacology has moved beyond trial-and-error. This shift has redefined **what is the primary goal of drug design**, which now focuses on the rational, data-driven creation of molecules that are highly effective, selective, and safe.

It is estimated that around 30% to 50% of all FDA-approved drugs target one of the four main types of drug receptors. Understanding what are the main types of drug receptors is fundamental to grasping how medications exert their therapeutic effects at a cellular level.