The process of developing a new drug is both challenging and exciting. There are many different phases and each stage is extremely collaborative and intellectually demanding. Using a real-life example, the development of a potent and selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, this presentation will provide an overview of the drug discovery pathway utilized at Wyeth. The talk will discuss the discovery path: starting with compound screening, and continue through identifying hits, developing and optimizing a lead, and culminating in the creation of a potential pre-clinical drug candidate. Specific attention will be paid to initial hit identification, in vitro screening analyses, and structure-activity relationships.