Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional bowel disorder characterized by abdominal pain, discomfort, and altered bowel habits, which have a significant impact on quality of life for approximately 10−20% of the population. IBS can be divided into three main types IBS-D (diarrhea predominant), IBS-C (constipation predominant), and mixed or alternating IBS. 5-HT 3 receptor antagonism has proved to be an efficacious treatment option for IBS-D. For example, alosetron displays efficacy in the treatment of multiple symptoms, including abdominal pain, discomfort, urgency, stool frequency and consistency. However, significant constipation occurred in approximately 25% of patients, leading to withdrawal of up to 10% of patients in clinical trials. Targeting compounds with partial agonist activity at the 5-HT 3 receptor represents a mechanistic departure from the classic 5-HT 3 receptor antagonist approach and should result in agents that are applicable to a broader array of IBS patient populations. Attenuation of the activity of the ion channel without completely abolishing its function may control or normalize bowel function without leading to a total block associated with severe constipation. We have identified a new class of selective, orally active 5-HT 3 receptor ligands with high 5-HT 3 receptor affinity and low partial agonist activity currently in preclinical development that should offer a significant advantage over existing therapies. KEYWORDS: 5-HT 3 receptor, partial agonist, irritable bowel syndrome, IBS W ith the special edition ACS Chemical Neuroscience to mark the 25th anniversary of the Serotonin club, this is a good opportunity to revisit the role of 5-HT within the gastrointestinal tract, particularly with respect to the function of 5-HT 3 receptors. Many may think of the 5-HT 3 receptor as an "old" target that does not have the "sexy" appeal of a "novel" target, but there is still a lot to learn about 5-HT 3 receptors and many opportunities for it to be a valuable target for drug discovery. Although there is a lot of comment about the lack of innovation in the pharmaceutical industry, we would like to suggest that despite the claims that the "low hanging fruit" has been picked that there are still many opportunities to explore these "older/established" targets. We will discuss how using a partial agonist approach to this "established" target may lead to significant therapeutic advantages in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Partial agonism as an approach is well established in other therapeutic areas; for example, aripiprazole is a dopamine receptor partial agonist for the treatment of schizophrenia, 1 and varenicline is a nicotinic partial agonist used for smoking cessation.2 In this brief review we will discuss the background to the concept and some key data; this is not intended to be a definitive review of IBS and 5-HT 3 , and there are numerous detailed reviews.3−5 The concept of partial agonism as an approach will be expanded on later, but the key aim of this approa...