Overview of the Advancement in the Drug Discovery and Contribution in the Drug Development Process

The drug discovery and development of a new chemical entity from original idea to the regulatory approval for launch into the market is a very long and complex journey. The process is complex and can take between 10-15 years, with a significant financial implication of cost of about $1 billion and more. The bioactive molecules as lead compounds may be derived from several sources such as plant, animal sources or as synthetic compounds. The odyssey of drug discovery/development may take several years elucidate valid evidence-based information from data mining, before a target selection for the progression of the drug discovery platform. The successful selection of identified drug target is an important objective for many Pharmaceutical industries before laying down a platform for research and development on hit target identification of compounds with promising biological and pharmacological activities with the potential to produce a good drug. The objective of this review paper is to develop a comprehensive review on the odyssey of drug discovery and development from the research and development standpoint with special bias within the frame of the preclinical level, hit and lead compound identification, optimization and validation, using different high throughput assay development platform. The consideration of a potential active pharmaceutical product necessitates a good test battery for hit identification, lead optimization a good process for candidate f selection of a candidate compound for drug development and putting into consideration the regulatory compliance guideline for new drug approval before the attain the market and subsequent post marketing surveillance process.