Book excerpt: This book focuses on the drug discovery and development applications of transition metal catalyzed processes, which can efficiently create preclinical and clinical drug candidates as well as marketed drugs. The authors pay particular attention to the challenges of transitioning academically-developed reactions into scalable industrial processes. Additionally, the book lays the groundwork for how continued development of transition metal catalyzed processes can deliver new drug candidates. This work provides a unique perspective on the applications of transition metal catalysis in drug discovery and development – it is a guide, a historical prospective, a practical compendium, and a source of future direction for the field.