Molecular drug targets receptors

The ideal molecular drug target is one which has been discovered in-house and is proprietary. Alternatively, a receptor or enzyme discovered by a researcher at a university, the cDNA of which is available for licensing by the drug company, could also provide an effective and proprietary target. These targets are often discovered serendip-itously, or could be the result of extensive fishing... 

Lynch DR, Guttmann RP (2001) NMDA receptor pharmacology perspectives from molecular biology Curr Drug Targets 2(3) 215-231... 

Many known drug receptors, and many prospective drug targets, exist as molecular arrays within membrane-bound macromolecules that cannot be readily crystallized neither can they be isolated or purified for the application of NMR methods. Moreover, even if an amino acid sequence were available, rule-based methods for the prediction of secondary structure, being derived as they are from a database of soluble proteins, cannot be applied with any confidence to the membrane-bound state. 

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