Book excerpt: Navigate the complex and multidisciplinary path of drug discovery procedures with Drug Discovery Strategies and Methods-a well-organized and timely reference that analyzes methods in target identification and validation, lead detection, compound optimization, and biological testing. This volume addresses challenges encountered during the discovery of new pharmaceutical candidates including the use of cutting-edge techniques utilized in drug design and development. It considers key elements in the drug design cycle ranging from appropriateness of targets and disease models to compound characterization, safety, and efficacy and the role of protein crystallography in structure-based drug design.