There is little doubt that the drug-discovery business faces trouble ahead. Despite huge increases in research spending, the pharmaceutical industry produces roughly the same number of new drugs each year, and there is little evidence that things are about to get better. Arguably, a lack of communication is one reason for this failing. In all the excitement over the new technologies which it was hoped would revolutionize drug discovery, people seem to have forgotten that the discovery process is an integrated business. Although thousands of novel targets will be revealed over the coming years, a lead compound with affinity for an isolated protein is a very long way from a drug. Looking back over case histories reveals that most successful drug discoveries depended on a great deal of cross-fertilization between disciplines — chemists, biologists, toxicologists and clinicians all need to be speaking the same language.

Launched this month, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery aims to capture the growing realization among members of the drug-discovery community that they need to start talking to each other again and, in the process, to appeal to both academic and industrial audiences. Editorially independent of Nature (as are all Nature journals), it is described by its editors as a “guide to the evolving world of drug discovery”. If, in pursuit of that goal, it cuts through the hype surrounding many new areas of development, and gives a clear picture of what drug discovery can be at its best, it should indeed provide a valuable service.