What sort of person makes a good discoverer of drugs?
Drug discovery is far from straightforward. Consider the problems. The human body is an extremely complex and changing environment that includes competing metabolic pathways, genes switching on and off, transport processes, cell to cell communication and very efficient defences against the admission of “foreign” molecules to the system. Depending on your age, race, sex, upbringing, diet, genealogy and occupation, you may have specific requirements for drugs needed to combat inherited disorders, infections or injuries. Even if you manage to target the correct biological molecule or process to combat the problem, there is still the question of synthesising an appropriate drug molecule that is very selective, potent in small doses and without side effects or toxicity when metabolised. As any one in the industry will tell you, the great majority of new drug designs fail to make it through the tough legislation surrounding the release of a new drug on to the market. Recent stories in the me
