In medicine, biotechnology and pharmacology, drug discovery is the process by which drugs are discovered and/or designed.

In the past most drugs have been discovered either by identifying the active ingredient from traditional remedies or by serendipitous discovery.

The new approach has been to understand how disease and infection are controlled at the molecular and physiology level and to target specific entities based on this knowledge.

The process of drug discovery involves the identification of candidates, synthesis, characterization, screening, assays, clinical trials, formulation and finally bulk manufacture. (See Medicinal chemistry)

See also

• Protein structure prediction
• Drug design
• Rational drug design
• Bioinformatics
• Orphan drug