Genetics and Drug Discovery

The primary goal of the scientific world is to gain an understanding of the mechanisms involved in disease etiology and provide drug treatment that applies to one and all. However, to date, some drugs have been successful while others have failed or produced side effects in humans. The main reason for this differential response to treatment is due to the genetic makeup of the individual. Understanding genetics and the advancement of genomic technologies has provided insights about human biology and diseases and how to develop drugs to treat infections. Still, there is a long way to go as several diseases are incurable, and also new diseases are emerging on the horizon. Exploring genetics and learning the basics of this field will help our view about the mechanisms involved and aim for new drug candidates. Here in this chapter, we discuss the overview of the basic principles involved in genetics, genetic mutations, and related methods engaged in drug discovery.