Fig. 4: Retrospective analysis of novelty peaks for novel drug targets since 2000.

Each of the 433 novel drug targets (represented by the data points in the box plots) has been mapped to the year of its first drug approval (x-axis), its corresponding disease indication, the year of the highest novelty peak identified in the corresponding target–indication association for each source category, and the number of years elapsed from drug approval to the corresponding top novelty peak (y-axis) for each source category. Clinical peaks have been deconvoluted into Phase I/II and Phase III. These novel drug targets include 302 supported by literature; 72 supported by genetic association; 40 supported by somatic mutation; 26 supported by RNA expression; 16 supported by affected pathway; and 14 supported by animal model evidence. Box plots show the median (centre line), the 25th–75th percentiles (box), whiskers extending to the most extreme points within 1.5 × IQR.