Recent Advances in ADME Predictions

The basic objective of medicinal chemistry is to deliver not only potent in vitro chemicals, but also, more importantly, drug candidates that can be progressed to clinical trials and that will eventually reach the market. This is a long and winding road – one that is often tricky to follow and that sometimes reaches a dead end. Over the past few decades, the pharmaceutical industry has learned that ADME and related parameters are of pre-eminent importance in selecting a successful candidate. This chapter briefly discusses the most important physico-chemical and other more complex ADME parameters, while focusing on in silico prediction. Historical approaches are mentioned, but, as the title suggests, the emphasis is on recent advances. The authors’ intention is to help medicinal chemists to achieve their goal of identifying new therapeutic options for human diseases.