ABSTRACT
The process of discovering new drugs is positioned at the interface between academic, (i.e., basic
research into biological phenomena) and clinical research, defining the efficacy and safety of new
drug candidates. In this sense it belongs to the realm of goal-oriented, applied research, and its
benchmark is productivity in terms of number of novel, attractive, and technically feasible drug
candidates that can be offered to the disciplines of preclinical and clinical research and
development, and that have a reasonable chance of success.
