Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36195754›Full record

ReviewNature reviews. Drug discovery2022

Predictive validity in drug discovery: what it is, why it matters and how to improve it.

Jack W Scannell, James Bosley, John A Hickman, Gerard R Dawson, Hubert Truebel, Guilherme S Ferreira, Duncan Richards, J Mark Treherne

Abstract readReview
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Nature reviews. Drug discovery, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
43citing papers in PubMed
12.5field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

43 citing papers in PubMed, 88 citations in OpenAlex.

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  16. Kappa opioid receptor control of motivated behavior revisited.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.

Jack W ScannellScience, Technology, and Innovation Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK. jack.scannell@btinternet.com.ORCID 0000-0002-0480-4140
James BosleyNovaDiscovery SA, Lyon, France.
John A HickmanSchool of Biological Sciences, Manchester University, Manchester, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-6661-8175
Gerard R DawsonP1vital Ltd, Wallingford, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-8624-7500
Hubert TruebelThe Knowledge House GmbH, Dusseldorf, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-6413-7864
Guilherme S Ferreira3D-PharmXchange, Tilden, Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0001-5606-6525
Duncan RichardsNuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology, and Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-8093-7084
J Mark TreherneTalisman Therapeutics Ltd, Cambridge, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-6667-3118
HR Wallingford · GBNuffield Orthopaedic Centre · GBShell (Netherlands) · NLTalisman Energy · GBUniversity of Manchester · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Successful drug discovery is like finding oases of safety and efficacy in chemical and biological deserts. Screens in disease models, and other decision tools used in drug research and development (R&D), point towards oases when they score therapeutic candidates in a way that correlates with clinical utility in humans. Otherwise, they probably lead in the wrong direction. This line of thought can be quantified by using decision theory, in which 'predictive validity' is the correlation coefficient between the output of a decision tool and clinical utility across therapeutic candidates. Analyses based on this approach reveal that the detectability of good candidates is extremely sensitive to predictive validity, because the deserts are big and oases small. Both history and decision theory suggest that predictive validity is under-managed in drug R&D, not least because it is so hard to measure before projects succeed or fail later in the process. This article explains the influence of predictive validity on R&D productivity and discusses methods to evaluate and improve it, with the aim of supporting the application of more effective decision tools and catalysing investment in their creation.

Indexed as

Drug DiscoveryEfficiencyHumans

Identifiers

PMID36195754
OpenAlexW4301178795

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.