Logistics of process R&D: Transforming laboratory methods to manufacturing scale

In the past, process R&D - which is responsible for producing candidate drugs in the required quantity and of the requisite quality - has had a low profile, and many people outside the field remain unaware of the challenges involved. However, in recent years, the increasing pressure to achieve shorter times to market, the demand for considerable quantities of candidate drugs early in development, and the higher structural complexity - and therefore greater cost - of the target compounds, have increased awareness of the importance of process R&D. Here, I discuss the role of process R&D, using a range of real-life examples, with the aim of facilitating integration with other parts of the drug discovery pipeline.