ABSTRACT
The use of pharmacogenomics in health care, especially in the drug discovery process, has been extensively anticipated, and one of the reasons why most of the pharmaceutical companies choose to work in the pharmacogenomics eld is that it helps and expedites the process and development of new drug candidates. Before learning the signicance of pharmacogenomics in the drug discovery pathway, it is important to know the normal drug discovery pathway and issues associated with it. Moreover, drug discovery is the process by which drugs are discovered and/or designed, and in the past, most drugs have been discovered either by identifying the active ingredient from traditional remedies (plants) or by an accidental discovery. Now, a new approach has been initiated to understand how disease and infection are controlled or regulated at the molecular and physiological levels. Furthermore, the process of drug discovery involves the identication of drug candidates, synthesis, characterization, screening, and assays for therapeutic efcacy. When a drug
compound has shown its value in these in vitro tests, it can be taken up for preclinical and clinical trials followed by industrial-level production (Figure 12.1).
