Book excerpt: Presenting both a panoramic introduction to the essential disciplines of drug discovery for novice medicinal chemists as well as a useful reference for veteran drug hunters, this book summarizes the state-of-the-art of medicinal chemistry. It covers key drug targets including enzymes, receptors, and ion channels, and hit and lead discovery. The book hen surveys a drug's pharmacokinetics and toxicity, with a solid chapter covering fundamental bioisosteres as a guide to structure-activity relationship investigations.