OOIR: Observatory of International Research

Papers

(The TQCC of Expert Opinion on Drug Discovery is 13. The table below lists those papers that are above that threshold based on CrossRef citation counts [max. 250 papers]. The publications cover those that have been published in the past four years, i.e., from 2022-06-01 to 2026-06-01.)

Article	Citations
Lessons learned from phenotypic drug discovery efforts	189
Strategies for targeting RNA with small molecule drugs	144
Scaffold hopping approaches for dual-target antitumor drug discovery: opportunities and challenges	110
Polypharmacology prediction: the long road toward comprehensively anticipating small-molecule selectivity to de-risk drug discovery	88
The root cause: why do so many drugs fail to translate from bench to bedside?	66
Reality check: lipid-oligonucleotide conjugates for therapeutic applications	58
Discovery of novel cathepsin K inhibitors for osteoporosis treatment using a deep learning-based strategy	55
Advances in ion channel high throughput screening: where are we in 2023?	54
What is the plausibility that all drugs will be designed by computers by the end of the decade?	46
Advances in the discovery of drugs that treat pulmonary arterial hypertension	46
γ-Secretase: once and future drug target for Alzheimer’s disease	45
Bisquinoline as a promising scaffold in anti-infective drug discovery: the current state of the art and future prospects	44
A comprehensive update on the use of molecular topology applications for anti-infective drug discovery	38
Understanding the impact of binding free energy and kinetics calculations in modern drug discovery	38
Designing drugs against leishmaniasis: is targeting the sterol biosynthesis pathway the answer?	37
Tools and techniques for the discovery of therapeutic aptamers: recent advances	36
The preclinical discovery and development of gepirone hydrochloride extended-release tablets: the first oral selective 5-HT1A receptor agonist for the treatment of major depressive disorder	36
Phenotypic screening for new heart failure therapeutics: scalable animal modeling in zebrafish	35
Methods in marine natural product drug discovery: what’s new?	35
The impact of antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) therapeutics on the future of rare disease drug discovery	34
The rules often neglected in current medicinal chemistry	33
A cautionary tale of paradox and false positives in cannabidiol research	33
Water in drug design: pitfalls and good practices	32
C. elegans : a prominent platform for modeling and drug screening in neurological disorders	32
Virtual screening: hope, hype, and the fine line in between	32

Molecular hybridization: a powerful tool for multitarget drug discovery	32
The potential of microfluidic platforms for neuron differentiation and pain modeling in novel drug discovery	32
Calcium channel blockers’ contribution to overcoming Current drug discovery challenges in Alzheimer’s disease	31
Novel insights into structure–activity relationships of kynurenine 3-monooxygenase inhibitors (KMOis) with emphasis on chemical space, activity landscape exploration	30
Current challenges and future perspectives of drug discovery in China	30
An update on knowledge graphs and their current and potential applications in drug discovery	30
Recent applications of positron emission tomographic (PET) imaging in psychiatric drug discovery	29
Correction	29
Novel hydrogels: are they poised to transform 3D cell-based assay systems in early drug discovery?	29
Animal models of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and their role in drug discovery and development: a critical review	28
Drug design strategies for the treatment azole-resistant candidiasis	28
Innovative strategies for the discovery of new drugs against alopecia areata: taking aim at the immune system	28
The application of pancreatic cancer organoids for novel drug discovery	28
Animal models of lean metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD): bridging pathogenesis and novel drug discovery	25
An overview of the preclinical discovery and development of tezepelumab for the treatment of asthma	25
Lessons learned from the discovery and development of the sesquiterpene lactones in cancer therapy and prevention	25
Inhibitors of the PLK1 polo-box domain: drug design strategies and therapeutic opportunities in cancer	25
Revisiting experimental models of erectile dysfunction and their value in drug discovery and development	25
The discovery and development of RNA-based therapies for treatment of HIV-1 infection	25
Targeted Degradation of Structured RNAs via Ribonuclease-Targeting Chimeras (RiboTacs)	23
Identifying novel drugs with new modes of action for neglected tropical fungal skin diseases (fungal skinNTDs) using an Open Source Drug discovery approach	23
High performance-oriented computer aided drug design approaches in the exascale era	23
High-throughput screening assays for novel antibacterial identification: current advances and future prospects	23
PTPN22: structure, function, and developments in inhibitor discovery with applications for immunotherapy	22
Designing multi-target drugs for the treatment of major depressive disorder	22
The human NTG model of migraine in drug discovery and development	22
Advances in the design, discovery, and optimization of aurora kinase inhibitors as anticancer agents	21
Mapping strategies towards improved external validity in preclinical translational research	21
A comprehensive update on the application of high-throughput fluorescence imaging for novel drug discovery	21
Metabolomics in antimicrobial drug discovery	20
Advances in the discovery of new chemotypes through ultra-large library docking	20
Avenues for antifungal drug discovery and development: where to now?	20
Unmasking allosteric-binding sites: novel targets for GPCR drug discovery	20
An overview on small molecules acting as broad-spectrum agents for yellow fever infection	20
Advances in structure-activity relationships of HDAC inhibitors as HIV latency-reversing agents	19
Novel avenues for identification of new antifungal drugs and current challenges	19
The latest advances in high content screening in microfluidic devices	19
Data processing for high-throughput mass spectrometry in drug discovery	19
In silico drug design strategies for discovering novel tuberculosis therapeutics	19
Targeting protein-protein interactions with low molecular weight and short peptide modulators: insights on disease pathways and starting points for drug discovery	19
How do drug discovery scientists address the unmet need of long COVID syndrome therapeutics and what more can be done?	19
Latest developments in engineered skeletal muscle tissues for drug discovery and development	19
The impact of CD3 affinity-attenuation on T cell engaging bispecific antibodies: is it really that simple?	18
What is the future of click chemistry in drug discovery and development?	18
Lessons learned from the failure of solanezumab as a prospective treatment strategy for Alzheimer’s disease	18
The integration of AI in fragment-based lead discovery and medicinal chemistry – an interview with professor György M Keserű	18
Efflux in Gram-negative bacteria: what are the latest opportunities for drug discovery?	18
Advancing AI-driven drug discovery: an interview with Professor Alan Talevi	18
The preclinical discovery and development of zanubrutinib for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia	18
Innovative drug discovery strategies in epilepsy: integrating next-generation syndrome-specific mouse models to address pharmacoresistance and epileptogenesis	17

The role of rodent behavioral models of schizophrenia in the ongoing search for novel antipsychotics	17
From algorithms to systems: integrating computation into drug discovery	17
The preclinical discovery and clinical development of ciltacabtagene autoleucel (Cilta-cel) for the treatment of multiple myeloma	17
Recent animal models of bladder cancer and their application in drug discovery: an update of the literature	17
The problem of antimalarial resistance and its implications for drug discovery	17
Artificial intelligence for small molecule anticancer drug discovery	17
Preclinical models of insomnia: advances, limitations, and future directions for drug discovery	16
3D bioprinting for organ and organoid models and disease modeling	16
Library size in virtual screening: is it truly a number’s game?	16
Long non-coding RNA-targeting therapeutics: discovery and development update	16
Understanding the role of cGAS-STING signaling in ischemic stroke: a new avenue for drug discovery	16
Investigating novel pharmacological strategies for treatment-resistant depression: focus on new mechanisms and approaches	16
Strategies for the drug discovery and development of taxane anticancer therapeutics	15
Where do we go next in antidepressant drug discovery? A new generation of antidepressants: a pivotal role of AMPA receptor potentiation and mGlu2/3 receptor antagonism	15
Have spirocyclic scaffolds been properly utilized in recent drug discovery efforts?	15
Molecular glue degraders: exciting opportunities for novel drug discovery	15
Current views on in vivo models for breast cancer research and related drug development	15
Lessons learnt from machine learning in early stages of drug discovery	15
Validation guidelines for drug-target prediction methods	15
Designing drugs when there is low data availability: one-shot learning and other approaches to face the issues of a long-term concern	14
Linkers in fragment-based drug design: an overview of the literature	14
Leveraging molecular dynamics simulations to study psychedelics and their receptors in future drug development	14
Perspectives on the success of plasma lipidomics in cardiovascular drug discovery and future challenges	14
Using automated patch clamp electrophysiology platforms in ion channel drug discovery: an industry perspective	14
Synthetic oxetanes in drug discovery: where are we in 2025?	14
Animal models of Kabuki syndrome and their applicability to novel drug discovery	14
Advancing obesity treatments through innovations in the design and manufacturing of therapeutic peptides	13
Structural and functional annotation of solute carrier transporters: implication for drug discovery	13
Approaches for development of LAG-3 inhibitors and the promise they hold as anticancer agents	13
Targeting guanine nucleotide exchange factors for novel cancer drug discovery	13
Understanding the structure of measles virus and its implications for novel drug discovery	13
Advances in determining new treatments for hepatitis B infection by utilizing existing and novel biomarkers	13
In-silico epitope-based vaccines design: progress, challenges and the road ahead	13
Fragment-based approaches to discover ligands for tumor-specific E3 ligases	13
Open resources for chemical probes and their implications for future drug discovery	13
Complementary strategies to be used in conjunction with animal models for multiple sclerosis drug discovery: adapting preclinical validation of drug candidates to the need of remyelinating strategies	13
Role of computational and structural biology in the development of small-molecule modulators of the spliceosome	13
Advances in the design and discovery of next-generation janus kinase-2 (JAK2) inhibitors for the treatment of myeloproliferative neoplasms	13
The premise of capsid assembly modulators towards eliminating HBV persistence	13
Approaches for the discovery of cinnamic acid derivatives with anticancer potential	13
Challenges with the discovery of RNA-based therapeutics for flaviviruses	13
Recent advances in cellular models for discovering prion disease therapeutics	13