Recent Targets in Drug Discovery: A Review

Drug design and drug discovery have critical importance in human health care. There are various sites for the drug targeting like cell membrane, intracellular constituents, outside the cell and possibly antimicrobial action. Receptor as agonist and antagonist, enzymes and pumps, ion channels, physicochemical action with Lipid, protein or water constituents of nerve cell membrane are targeted on cell membrane. Various type of nuclear receptor like Oestrogen, retinoid, vitamin-D, Glucocorticoid, Thyroid hormone, peroxisome proliferators, liver receptor etc. are targeted on the intracellular constituents. The traditional approach of drug discovery involves target identification, validation, lead search and optimization followed by clinical development phases. The recent targets for drug action are DNA, Nuclear Receptors e.g. Retinoid Receptors, Ion Channels e.g. Calcium channel, Enzymes e.g. Cholinesterase, Receptors e.g. Adenosine Receptor in the present work different targets of drug action are discussed in brief which is an essential part during discovery phase of a drug.