1) Previously, traditional drug discovery relied on lengthy trial-and-error testing but computers now play a key role by analyzing molecular structures in databases to identify candidate molecules that are most likely to bind to targets.
2) Computer-aided drug design (CADD) uses computational chemistry across all stages of drug discovery to expedite processes like hit identification, lead optimization, and evaluating absorption and toxicity profiles.
3) CADD involves using software to visualize and model molecules in order to determine receptors, facilitate hit-to-lead selection, and design novel drugs through structure-based and ligand-based drug design.