Hypothesis driven drug design: improving quality and effectiveness of the design-make-test-analyse cycle.

In drug discovery, the central process of constructing and testing hypotheses, carefully conducting experiments and analysing the associated data for new findings and information is known as the design-make-test-analyse cycle. Each step relies heavily on the inputs and outputs of the other three components. In this article we report our efforts to improve and integrate all parts to enable smooth and rapid flow of high quality ideas. Key improvements include enhancing multi-disciplinary input into 'Design', increasing the use of knowledge and reducing cycle times in 'Make', providing parallel sets of relevant data within ten working days in 'Test' and maximising the learning in 'Analyse'.