Look at news from the pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry sectors and you will notice that drug development is big business. From businesses focussing solely on making a profit from developing new drugs and discovering new resources and those that do it as a part of their business, to those that have decided to shut down certain areas of the business in order to concentrate on the process of drug discovery and development.

While the medical and health benefits are undoubtedly the top reason why drug discovery and development is so important, it is worthwhile remembering that creating a new and successful treatment for a common ailment or serious illness is also about making a profit. After all, the time it takes to research new organisms and compounds is money and the processes by which these raw forms are turned into viable, tried and tested medicines can cost millions of pounds.

Drug discovery can begin with naturally occurring organisms or with existing man-made compounds and from either of these starting points begins a very long, very technical, very expensive process. And at the end of this process, many drugs will not make it to the trialling phase and many of those that do will be required to go back and make adjustments sometimes it can take ten years or more to produce the drugs that are used to treat everything from diabetes and cancer, to the common cold and fungal infections such as athletes foot.

Admittedly the more complex the disease or illness, the longer it will take for a treatment or cure to be developed, and sometimes this is an ongoing process such as the tireless efforts to find cures for many different types of cancer. While there are some very effective drugs already on the market for breast cancer for example, until we are able to cure the most common forms of cancer, the drugs and pharmaceuticals industry will not be allowed to rest.

For some drugs companies, online resources means the ability to hit the ground running, the chance to start with some research that has already been done and is supported by those in the know. Without these resources, each time a company decided to take on the development of a particular type of drug they would have to start from scratch wasting valuable time, resources and money. Thankfully, the drug discovery process is a little way along for many, meaning we could all be benefiting from new drugs sooner than we think.