Optimizing organization and effectiveness of pharmaceutical discovery by molecular target rather than by therapeutic area

The majority of drug discovery units in pharmaceutical companies are currently organized by therapeutic area. In this Commentary, a proposal is offered which focuses discovery organization by molecular target, rather than therapeutic area. Examples of such molecular targets include ion channels, proteases, and tyrosine kinases, to name but a few. In the face of continued rationalization in the pharmaceutical industry, major cutbacks in the world‐wide pharmaceutical R&D workforce, and the changing landscape of health care reform, the drug companies that survive the 90s will be those that gain sustainable competitive advantages in R&D. For this interim, and beyond, classes of numerous, highly validated molecular targets have already been identified in the past few years which have strong links to major disease processes with unmet therapeutic needs. Moreover, it is evident that these disease processes, and molecular targets, play key roles in therapeutically unrelated diseases. For example, tyrosine kinases have roles in endocrine, oncological, and certain cardiovascular disorders. There is little need for therapeutically aligned researchers in industry trying to find new targets. The key factors in gaining a sustainable competitive advantage in research will be to rapidly obtain these human targets, identify, design, and synthesize proprietary modifiers of these targets, and efficiently determine efficacy, biodistribution, and safety so that these modifiers can be rapidly advanced to clinical trials. A focus and organization of molecular target‐oriented drug discovery is proposed to attain this advantage.