title: Target selection for FDA-approved medicines.
abstract: The biopharmaceutical industry translates fundamental understanding of disease into new medicines. As part of a comprehensive analysis of FDA-approved new molecular entities (NMEs), we assessed the mechanistic basis of drug efficacy, with emphasis on target selection. Three target families capture almost half of all NMEs and the leading ten families capture more than three-quarters of NME approvals. Target families were related to their clinical application and identify dynamic trends in targeting over time. These data suggest increasing attention toward novel target families, which presumably reflects increased understanding of disease etiology. We also suggest the need to balance the ongoing emphasis on target-based drug discovery with phenotypic approaches to drug discovery.
authors.affiliation: Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, MO, USA. Electronic address: michael.kinch@wustl.edu.
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kinch
authors.affiliation: Yale Center for Molecular Discovery, West Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Denton
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hoyer
authors.affiliation: Yale Center for Molecular Discovery, West Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Patridge
authors.affiliation: Yale Center for Molecular Discovery, West Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Plummer
mesh_terms: D017277:Drug Approval; D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy / Q000145:classification*; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000145:classification*; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D014481:United States; D014486:United States Food and Drug Administration
chemical_list: D007473:Ion Channels; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled