REACH and in silico methods: an attractive opportunity for medicinal chemists

•REACH – the world's most ambitious chemical legislation.•Responsibility of proving the safety of chemicals moved from the public authorities to industry.•From ‘No data no Model’ to ‘No data no market’.•Promotion of alternative methods, a chance for QSAR renaissance.•Exploratory toxicology, a new frontier of modern medicinal chemistry.

REACH, the most ambitious chemical legislation in the world, provides unprecedented opportunities for medicinal chemists. Companies must report (eco)toxicological information about their chemicals, disseminated to the public domain by the European Chemicals Agency after their registration. The availability of this wealth of new toxicological data, together with the promotion of REACH of in silico methods, appoints medicinal chemists to a leading role in the regulatory hazard assessment process. In fact, Quantitative Structure–Activity Relation ship (QSAR) models and predictive toxicology have been applied in drug design and development for decades. Here, we discuss toxicological endpoints and areas where further development is needed to provide an enlightened appraisal of this attractive new opportunity.

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