The innovative process of developing new drugs based on an understanding of a biological target is known as drug design.
It involves the production of molecules whose shapes and charges complement those of the biomolecular target with which they interact.
The development of computational techniques of drug design has improved affinity, selectivity, and stability.
Types-
The two main categories of drug design are as follow
1.Ligand - based drug design –
It is also known as Indirect drug design.
in ligand-based drug design, the creation of new compounds that interact with the target is based on knowledge about other molecules.
2.Structure based drug design –
It is also known as direct drug design.
The basis of structure-based drug design is the understanding of the three-dimensional structure of the biological target, which may be obtained by techniques like x-ray crystallography or NMR spectroscopy.
A drug target (biological target) is anything found in a living creature that some other substance (such as an endogenous ligand or a medication) is directed and/or attaches to, changing the way it behaves or performs.