ABSTRACT
Genomics and proteomics continue to provide a wealth of new drugable targets. Evaluating the interaction of the new drugs with the drugable targets is the daunting and challenging task undertaken largely by the pharmaceutical industry to produce a pipeline of new drugs. The successful emergence of effective therapeutics from this pipeline is slowed by the ability to critically evaluate the interaction of the drug with the target and fully assess their toxicity and safety profiles. The timeline and expense for developing new drugs present a significant barrier to success. The critical path initiative is a framework for a new approach to drug approvals. Radiolabeled molecular imaging agents are emerging as major tools for the drug discovery and development paradigm. In the early discovery phase, the evaluation of target expression and function related to a particular disease leads to important target identification, the key to the downstream discovery of a target-modulating drug.
