The review selected for this issue is in fact what the J. Med. Chem. calls a ‘Perspective’ paper. To summarize, it is a number crunching exercise on the last 50 years of drug discovery, but with a focus on the molecular properties like molecular weight, cLogP, polar surface area, rotatable bonds, etc., instead the usual focus on natural vs. combinatorial or pharma vs. university. It is a bit dense, but worthwile. If you can’t stand it, just jump to the conclusions.


What Do Medicinal Chemists Actually Make? A 50-Year Retrospective
J. Med. Chem., 2011, 54 (19), pp 6405-6416. See: 10.1021/jm200504p