Fragment‐based drug discovery—the importance of high‐quality molecule libraries

Fragment‐based drug discovery (FBDD) uses collections (libraries) of smaller, less complex molecules (fragments) than drug‐like molecules used in high‐throughput screening. It describes the views on the chemical and computational aspects of library design and discusses emerging technologies. The article highlights emerging chemical and computational technologies in FBDD and discusses strategies for optimising fragment hits. The impact of novel FBDD approaches is already being felt, with the recent approval of the covalent KRASG12C inhibitor sotorasib highlighting the utility of FBDD against targets that were long considered undruggable.