Life & Health Sciences
Pharmacology and drug discovery research: data, standards, funders
Pharmacology and drug discovery research follows a compound from a biological target to a candidate medicine. The sequence usually runs from target selection through screening compound libraries for hits, removing assay-interference compounds, improving potency and selectivity through structure-activity relationships, and efficacy testing in vitro and in vivo before one or two candidates are proposed for development. The shared reference data are open. ChEMBL is a manually curated database of bioactive molecules with drug-like properties and an ELIXIR Core Data Resource. PubChem, run by NCBI at the US National Library of Medicine since 2004, holds substance and compound records and BioAssay screening results. The IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology, developed at the University of Edinburgh, gives expert-curated ligand and target data for GPCRs, ion channels, nuclear receptors, kinases, transporters and enzymes. DrugBank, from the University of Alberta, covers drugs and their targets.
Regulatory documents set what nonclinical work must show: ICH M3(R2) on nonclinical safety studies for human trials, S7B on delayed ventricular repolarization (QT prolongation), and M12, which FDA finalised in August 2024, on enzyme- and transporter-mediated drug interaction studies. Flagship journals include the British Journal of Pharmacology, founded in 1946, and the journals of ASPET, including the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
In the US, the NIGMS Division of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Biological Chemistry supports the field through three branches, including work on the design and synthesis of chemical probes and on natural products discovery. NCATS, created in December 2011, and NIDA also fund it. In Europe the Innovative Medicines Initiative paired the European Commission with EFPIA. ASPET has ten divisions and IUPHAR dates from 1959.
New to the field? What is Pharmacology & Drug Discovery? →
Reviewed 5 November 2026 by CASRAI Editorial Board
- ASPET divisions(read 5 November 2026)
- IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology: about(read 5 November 2026)
- ChEMBL(read 5 November 2026)
- NIGMS Division of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Biological Chemistry(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: Drug discovery(read 5 November 2026)
- FDA ICH M12 drug interaction studies(read 5 November 2026)
- FDA ICH S7B(read 5 November 2026)
- FDA ICH M3(R2)(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: PubChem(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: DrugBank(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: PharmGKB(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: IUPHAR(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: ASPET(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: British Journal of Pharmacology(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: JPET(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: NCATS(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: NIDA(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: Innovative Medicines Initiative(read 5 November 2026)
Field at a glance
Journals
- British Journal of Pharmacology
- Published by Wiley-Blackwell for the British Pharmacological Society; founded 1946 as British Journal of Pharmacology and Chemotherapy; covers all aspects of experimental pharmacology.Website ↗
- Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
- Monthly peer-reviewed ASPET journal published by Elsevier, founded 1909, on the interactions of chemicals with biological systems.Website ↗
- Molecular Pharmacology, Pharmacological Reviews, Drug Metabolism and Disposition
- With JPET, the journals ASPET publishes: three research journals and one review journal, Pharmacological Reviews.Website ↗
Societies
- ASPET divisions
- The society lists ten divisions, among them Drug Discovery and Development, Drug Metabolism and Disposition, Molecular Pharmacology, Toxicology and Behavioral Pharmacology.Website ↗
- IUPHAR
- International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology; set up in 1959, independent since 1966; first World Congress of Pharmacology was in Stockholm in 1961.Website ↗
Funders and programmes
- NIGMS Pharmacology, Physiology, and Biological Chemistry
- Three branches: Physiology and Clinical Sciences, Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, and Chemistry and Chemical Biology.Website ↗
- NCATS
- NIH centre created on 23 December 2011; its Office of Strategic Alliances works with biotech and pharmaceutical companies on drug development.Website ↗
- NIDA
- Part of NIH since October 1992; funds research on addiction and its treatments, including work on naltrexone and buprenorphine.Website ↗
- Innovative Medicines Initiative
- European public-private partnership of the European Commission and EFPIA, aimed at speeding drug discovery and development by addressing bottlenecks.Website ↗
Archives, facilities and data
- ChEMBL
- Manually curated database of bioactive molecules with drug-like properties, an ELIXIR Core Data Resource; companions are SureChEMBL, UniChem and ChEMBL-NTD.Website ↗ · Our guide →
- PubChem
- Run by NCBI since 2004 as part of the NIH Molecular Libraries Program; its three databases are Substance, Compound and BioAssay.Website ↗ · Our guide →
- IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology
- Expert-curated ligand-activity-target database from the University of Edinburgh, a joint project of IUPHAR and the British Pharmacological Society.Website ↗
- DrugBank
- Online drug and drug-target database from the University of Alberta and TMIC; first released 2006, version 6.0 appeared in 2024.Website ↗
- PharmGKB (ClinPGx)
- Knowledge base on genetic variation and drug response, managed at Stanford since 2000 and funded by NIGMS; holds CPIC and DPWG dosing guidelines.Website ↗ · Our guide →
Standards and formats
- ICH M3(R2) nonclinical safety studies
- FDA final guidance of January 2010 on harmonised nonclinical safety studies for human clinical trials and marketing authorization.Website ↗ · Our guide →
- ICH S7B QT prolongation
- FDA final guidance of October 2005 giving a nonclinical testing strategy for delayed ventricular repolarization (QT interval prolongation).Website ↗
- ICH M12 drug interaction studies
- FDA final guidance of August 2024 on enzyme- and transporter-mediated pharmacokinetic interactions, covering in vitro and clinical evaluation.Website ↗
46 pages across 12 topic areas
Clinical Research Administration
- Allometric Scaling in Pharmacokinetics: Equation, Exponents, and Where It Fails
How allometric scaling extrapolates pharmacokinetic parameters like clearance across species using body weight, why the simple equation is well docume…
- Blood-to-Plasma Ratio (Rb): Converting Plasma Clearance to Blood Clearance
The blood-to-plasma concentration ratio (Rb) governs how a drug partitions between whole blood and plasma, and why plasma clearance must be converted…
- Caco-2 Permeability Assay: Papp, TEER, and Efflux Ratio
What a Caco-2 monolayer Papp result actually measures, why TEER and Lucifer Yellow integrity checks come first, and how the efflux ratio catches P-gly…
- Cheng-Prusoff Equation: Converting IC50 to Ki
The Cheng-Prusoff equation converts an assay-dependent IC50 into an assay-independent Ki. Covers the derivation logic, a worked numeric example, and t…
- IVIVE: In Vitro-In Vivo Extrapolation of Hepatic Clearance
In vitro-in vivo extrapolation (IVIVE) scales intrinsic clearance from liver microsomes or hepatocytes into predicted hepatic clearance using MPPGL, h…
- Naranjo Algorithm for Adverse Drug Reactions: The Ten Questions, the Score Bands, and Its Documented Limits
A working walkthrough of the Naranjo ADR Probability Scale: what each of the ten items is actually asking, how the score bands are defined, what the p…
- NOAEL and First-in-Human Starting Dose
How the No Observed Adverse Effect Level from nonclinical toxicology studies is converted to a Human Equivalent Dose by allometric scaling, then to th…
- PBPK Modeling for Regulatory Submissions
How physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models are built, verified against clinical data, and used to support FDA and EMA regulatory submissi…
- The Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS): Classes and Biowaivers
How the Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS) classifies drugs by solubility and permeability into four classes, and when the resulting BCS-bas…
- Toxicokinetics in Nonclinical Safety Studies
Toxicokinetics characterizes systemic exposure achieved within a nonclinical toxicity study, not therapeutic dosing, and is the basis for the exposure…
- Trapezoidal AUC: Linear vs Log-Linear Methods in Noncompartmental AnalysisComparison
A comparison of the linear and log-linear trapezoidal rules for calculating AUC in noncompartmental pharmacokinetic analysis, and how the linear-up/lo…
- What Is Pharmacometrics? FDA's Model-Informed Drug Development (MIDD) Program
Pharmacometrics is the modeling discipline (PopPK, PBPK, exposure-response, QSP) that predicts drug behavior and informs dosing decisions. This guide…
Laboratory Operations & Safety
- Allosteric Modulator: Mechanisms, Types, and Assays
A guide to allosteric modulators in pharmacology: PAM and NAM mechanisms, IUPHAR cooperativity factors, screening assays, and subtype selectivity.…
- Cell Painting: What the Assay Stains and Measures
Cell Painting stains eight cell components with six dyes and measures ~1,500 features per cell. Dye table, v3 changes and limitations.…
- Controlled Substance Inventory: DEA Biennial Requirements for Research Labs
What DEA-registered research labs must record in an initial and biennial controlled substance inventory under 21 CFR 1304.11, including exact vs. esti…
- DEA Controlled Substance Storage Requirements: A Procurement Guide
A procurement-focused guide to DEA controlled substance storage requirements under 21 CFR Part 1301: cabinet vs. safe vs. cage rules by schedule, secu…
- DEA Form 225: What It Is and Who Needs to File It for Research
DEA Form 225 is the base registration application a lab must file before it can legally handle controlled substances for research, covering the Resear…
- DEA Researcher Registration: Form 225, Schedule I Approval, and Timeline
How to register with the DEA to conduct Schedule I-V research: which form applies, what a Schedule I protocol must include, what the field-office revi…
- DNA-Encoded Chemical Libraries: Screening Guide
DNA-encoded chemical libraries screen billions of small molecules via DNA barcodes. Explore DEL synthesis, selection workflows, and bench QC benchmark…
- Lipinski Rule of Five: Drug-Likeness Criteria
A guide to Lipinski's Rule of Five for oral drug bioavailability: the four physicochemical cutoffs, screening workflows, Veber rules, and bRo5 excepti…
- PROTAC: How Degraders Work, Hook Effect and FDA Status
How PROTAC degraders work, why the hook effect matters, how they differ from molecular glues, and their FDA status.…
- SimBiology: MATLAB Software for QSP, PK/PD and PBPK
What SimBiology is, what it models (QSP, PK/PD, PBPK), and how NCA and NLME differ, from MathWorks documentation.…
- Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR): Running a Binding Assay and Calculating KD from a Sensorgram
A step-by-step SPR binding assay procedure from ligand immobilization through regeneration, plus a worked calculation deriving ka, kd and KD = kd/ka f…
- Xpose: NONMEM Model Diagnostics and R Workflow Guide
Xpose is an open-source R package for NONMEM model diagnostics. Learn how to import run files and generate ggplot2-based goodness-of-fit plots for Pop…
Research Methods & Statistics
- Bioinformatics vs Cheminformatics: Key DifferencesComparison
A side-by-side comparison of bioinformatics and cheminformatics: data types, databases, methods, tools, funders, careers and where the two meet in dru…
- Drug Repurposing: Research Methods and Data Guide
A guide to drug repurposing in pharmacology: screening workflows, Broad Repurposing Hub data, NCATS translational support, and FDA 505(b)(2) regulator…
- Pharmacy vs Pharmacology: What Is the Difference?Comparison
Pharmacy is the health profession and applied science of medicines; pharmacology is the science of how drugs act on the body. Compare scope, training,…
- What Is Cheminformatics? Methods, Databases, and Career Paths
Cheminformatics applies computing and information science to chemical problems. This guide covers molecular representations (SMILES, InChI), open data…
- What Is Pharmacology? Research Areas, Funding, and Career Paths
A thorough answer to "what is pharmacology": core concepts, major subfields, the federal/foundation funding landscape, research methods, and career pa…
Laboratory Equipment & Instrumentation
- Electrospray Ionization: Source Parameters and How to Tune Them
A source-parameter tuning procedure for electrospray ionization: what each of the six ESI controls physically does, how Waters, Agilent, SCIEX, Thermo…
- Fluorescence Polarization (FP) Assays: Tracer Design, Kd Targeting, and Interference Controls
A practical guide to the three decisions that determine whether a fluorescence polarization assay works: tracer size relative to target, target concen…
- Multiple Reaction Monitoring: Building and Optimizing MRM Transitions
A working guide to MRM method development on a triple quadrupole: choosing precursors and product ions, optimising collision energy, and budgeting dwe…
Scholarly Publishing
- ASPET: Overview, Divisions, Journals, and Awards
A complete guide to ASPET, covering its 10 scientific divisions, peer-reviewed pharmacology journals, scientific awards, and annual meeting opportunit…
- DrugBank Guide: Database Features, Access & API
A researcher's guide to DrugBank, detailing database contents, search methods, academic vs commercial licensing under CC BY-NC 4.0, and API data acces…
- IUPHAR: Guide to Pharmacology, NC-IUPHAR, and Target Standards
An in-depth guide to IUPHAR, NC-IUPHAR receptor nomenclature, and the curated IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology database for drug discovery researchers…
Grants Management & Research Funding
- ICH M3(R2): Nonclinical Safety Studies Guide
A guide to ICH M3(R2) nonclinical safety standards: study durations, safety pharmacology, exploratory clinical microdosing, and IND application requir…
- Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) Guide
A practical guide to the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) and its transition to IHI, covering eligibility, two-stage application calls, and compl…
Laboratory Compliance & Quality
- 21 CFR Part 58: GLP Requirements for Nonclinical Studies
How 21 CFR Part 58 governs nonclinical safety studies: the study director's single-point authority, quality assurance unit independence, protocol and…
- What Is Good Laboratory Practice (GLP)?
A plain-language guide to Good Laboratory Practice (GLP): what it is, why FDA created it, what 21 CFR Part 58 requires, and how GLP differs from GMP a…
Research Data Management
- Protein Data Bank (PDB): Archiving and Reusing Macromolecular Structure Data
How the Protein Data Bank archives experimentally determined 3D macromolecular structures, wwPDB governance, deposition mandates, formats, and reuse i…
- PubChem: NIH/NLM's Chemistry Compound and Bioassay Data Repository
PubChem is NCBI/NLM/NIH's free repository of chemical structures, substances, and bioassay data. What it covers, how it's organized, and how research…
Research Integrity & Compliance
- FDA Modernization Act 2.0: What It Actually Changed About Animal Testing
The FDA Modernization Act 2.0 (Pub. L. 117-328, Sec. 3209) struck the words requiring animal tests from the FD&C Act and the biosimilar pathway. It di…
- Organ-on-a-Chip as a Replacement Method Under the 3Rs
Organ-on-a-chip microphysiological systems as a 3Rs Replacement method: current regulatory acceptance status, validation limits versus in vivo models,…
Patient Safety & Infection Prevention
- Medication Use Evaluation (MUE): Criteria, Sampling, the Data Form, and the P&T Report
A step-by-step procedure for running a medication use evaluation in a health system: establishing the trigger, writing criteria and thresholds, defini…
Research Tools & Software
- OpenMM: What It Is and How to Run a First Simulation
How to install OpenMM, run the official villin example, read the reporter log and trajectory, and fix platform problems.…
Technology Transfer & Innovation
- Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) Compliance for International Material Transfer Agreements
How Nagoya Protocol PIC/MAT obligations and the EU's due-diligence regulation shape the ABS-specific clauses a technology transfer office must draft i…
