Fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) has received much attention in recent years by the
pharmaceutical industry and academia. Here published FBDD methods are reviewed with a particular focus on in
silico methods and theoretical approaches. Included are techniques useful at each stage of the process, from
fragment library design, to virtual fragment screening and on to fragment growth and lead generation. The
strengths and weaknesses of FBDD approaches are presented and the benefits of the complementary use of
experimental and computational methods are discussed.
Keywords: fragment-based drug discovery, de novo drug design, library design, binding energy, scoring function.
