New candidate drug molecules that are advanced into preclinical testing by the research arm of a drug discovery company or organization. NCEs may include genes or gene fragments, proteins or peptides, or small molecules, although typically the pharmaceutical industry has counted only small organic molecules (“classical” drugs) in their determination of the number of NCEs generated. The number of NCEs created by the pharmaceutical industry each year is critical to the ability of companies to maintain growth. An NCE deficit has recently been identified, and it is hoped that the application of new technologies such as genomics, combinatorial chemistry and high-throughput screening will redress the balance.