The ongoing unraveling of the human genome is providing 'guestimates' of potential new targets in the quest for better and safer medicines. It is believed that the current repertoire of approximately 500 drug targets may be extended to over 3000. Thus, for the years to come the key to innovation is to zoom in on this surplus of 2500 targets. This challenge is formidable, and requires good interaction between cell biologists, medicinal chemists and pharmacologists. Cell biologists will unravel the function of candidate genes and develop test systems for validating drug targets. Medicinal chemists will discover and design molecules as leads for new drugs to intervene with the new targets, pharmacologists have the power to develop these targets into animal models of human disease. These three areas represent the early phases of drug discovery and development, and high quality research and prediction in this phase can reduce the attrition rate in later, more costly stages of the drug development process.