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LIFESCIENCELEADER.COM JULY 2014 41 thoughts and words. After the introduc- tion of effective medicines, psychiatrists focused on treating the biological process- es underlying patients' symptoms and diseases in the realms of mood, anxiety, and thought disorders. Beyond their role in treating disease, drugs have helped scientists understand the biology underlying patients' symptoms and diseases. A drug's mechanism of action ultimately involves interactions between the drug and its targets. Drug targets are molecules in humans or pathogens. Sometimes the term "target" is applied to the biological processes that are altered when the drug interacts with its molecu- lar target. Sometimes the term "target" is applied to a disease state. Understanding a drug's mechanism of action typically takes many years. Often, innovative drugs have been adopted into clinical use for many years before their mechanism is understood. In fact, the effec- tiveness of an innovative drug typically has provided scientists with the insight that a target molecule, biological process, or path- ological condition exists. Moreover, the drug itself typically has provided scientists the tool to decode its own mechanism. In this way, drug discovery provides not only thera- peutics to alleviate human suffering, but also provides profound insights into biology and disease processes. After the explosion of new psychiatric drugs in the 1950s, research into their struc- ture and mechanism fueled incremental discoveries that led to numerous follow-on drugs, which extended and improved the therapeutic effects of their ancestors. Many antipsychotics followed chlorpromazine and these "typical" antipsychotic drugs were ultimately supplanted largely by "atypical" antipsychotics, particularly Clozaril. The history of CNS drug discovery and evolution supports the contention that the tremendous therapeutic impact of drug discovery is complemented by the use of drugs as tools to define the disor- ders they treat and to unlock mysteries of disease processes. Fundamental dis- coveries and incremental evolution play distinct roles in the evolution of increas- ingly effective and more tolerable drugs. Fundamental discoveries help decode mechanisms which facilitate the incre- mental advances of medicinal chemistry. Without animal models for many of the important human psychiatric and pain conditions, fundamental discoveries have been driven by clinical observations of unexpected benefits. L Seth Lederman, M.D., is cofounder, CEO, and chair- man of Tonix Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharmaceuti- cal company developing treatments for disorders of the central nervous system including f bromyalgia, post- traumatic stress disorder, and tension headaches. W E A R E D E D I C A T E D T O T H E F U T U R E O F C L I N I C A L D E V E L O P M E N T A N D T O E V E R Y L I F E I T S A V E S . C O M P R E H E N S I V E P H A S E I - I V B I O P H A R M A C E U T I C A L D R U G D E V E L O P M E N T A t P R A H e a l t h S c i e n c e s w e s e e d r u g d e v e l o p m e n t a s m o r e t h a n a p r o c e s s ; i t ' s a p r i v i l e g e . W e ' r e c o m m i t t e d t o p r o v i d i n g i n n o v a t i v e s o l u t i o n s t h a t h e l p o u r c l i e n t s b r i n g n e w d r u g s t o m a r k e t a n d i m p r o v e p e o p l e ' s l i v e s . W e ' r e p a s s i o n a t e D E R X W G H O L Y H U L Q J V F L H Q W L Ɠ F H [ S H U W L V H t h a t l e a d s t h e i n d u s t r y , a s w e l l a s t h e h i g h e s t q u a l i t y o f p a t i e n t c a r e . A n d w e a r e d e t e r m i n e d t o n e v e r s t o p i m p r o v i n g t h e d r u g d e v e l o p m e n t p r o c e s s . W W W. P R A H S .C O M 0 7 1 4 _ D r u g _ D i s c o v e r y _ T o n i x - 1 . i n d d 2 0714_Drug_Discovery_Tonix-1.indd 2 6 / 2 0 / 2 0 1 4 1 : 0 0 : 3 0 P M 6/20/2014 1:00:30 PM