Medicinal chemistry: a support or a driving force in drug research?

The foregoing has demonstrated most emphatically the significant and central role which chemistry plays in modern and future drug research. It does not mean to diminish the important role of biology but it does serve to show that chemistry is not merely a support for the needs of biology but is a powerful driving force in itself. The two disciplines are essentially interdependent and each relies on the other for success in drug design, discovery and eventual delivery of a useful medicament to the patient. Finally, the medicinal chemist today is faced with as many if not more formidable challenges in medicinal research as his counterpart of a generation ago. The sciences of genetics, molecular biology, neuro-pharmacology and electrophysiology have expanded the knowledge base of cellular function many fold. This new knowledge when coupled with the fundamental role of biochemistry in outlining in chemical terms both normal and abnormal cellular events offers the researcher a much more sophisticated appreciation of the cause of disease states. Knowing which enzymes or receptors are involved is a crucial step towards correcting the malfunctioning cellular conditions. With powerful new methods for determining the three-dimensional structure of molecules and computer graphics which give insight on rational drug design and modification, the medicinal chemist can explore with greater confidence than ever before the road to new drugs. The new biology, the new physical methodology and the computer have enhanced the role of chemistry in modern drug research and have given the medicinal chemist a more profound grasp of cellular aberrations leading to disease. This knowledge is a golden rod in the hands of an imaginative chemist in the search of innovative drugs.