Computer-Aided Drug Design in Industry: A Summary of Perspectives

Abstract

Based on the discussions and, in particular, a general discussion held at the end of the workshop this final chapter summarizes questions, views, and conclusions relating to the following topics: 1. Effectiveness/impact of computer-aided drug design (CADD) in industrial drug discovery projects 2. Contributions of CADD groups to drug discovery 3. Conditions supporting/prohibiting useful contributions from CADD groups in industry 4. The role of CADD in combination with combinatorial chemistry and high throughput screening There was general agreement that CADD has developed into an indispensable tool (or, rather, toolbox) in modern drug research or in the search for new agrochemical agents which is well integrated in drug discovery chemistry. It seems, however, that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to find objective or quantitative measures of the practical impact of CADD. The main reason is that drug research is a multidisciplinary field and that the success of a drug discovery project depends on a variety of factors, among which CADD is only one; the individual contributions of these factors cannot be separated straightforwardly in real life situations.