Serendipitous target-based drug discoveries

Drug discoveries of the past decades are characterized by an increasing knowledge of molecular biology. In the case of target-based drug discovery, the starting point of the research is a known molecular biological target. There are several therapeutic fields, such as hypertension, obstructive airway diseases, diabetes, and chronic myeloid leukemia whose treatment essentially improved by target-based drug discoveries. A short overview of dapagliflozin, trastuzumab emtansine, sofosbuvir, tofacitinib, and apremilast affords recent examples of target-based drug discoveries. In some special cases, however, the initial drug target only initiates the drug discovery to find a lead molecule; however, the final drug product has a different mechanism of action. Examples of such serendipitous drug discoveries are overviewed by examples of drospirenone, escitalopram, ezetimibe, lamotrigine, and omeprazole.