New
drugs introduced to the market are privileged structures having
affinities for biological targets implicated in human diseases and
conditions. These new chemical entities (NCEs), particularly small
molecules and antibody–drug conjugates, provide insight into
molecular recognition and simultaneously function as leads for the
design of future medicines. This review is part of a continuing series
presenting the most likely process-scale synthetic approaches to 40
NCEs approved for the first time anywhere in the world in 2019.