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  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="iso-abbrev">Pharmacophore</journal-id>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">pharmacophorejournal.com</journal-id>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">Pharmacophore</journal-id>
      <journal-title-group>
        <journal-title>Pharmacophore</journal-title>
      </journal-title-group>
      <issn pub-type="epub">2229-5402</issn>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">pharmacophorejournal.com-6981</article-id>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.51847/ytVqQIwlCE</article-id>
      <article-categories>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="heading">
          <subject>Original research</subject>
        </subj-group>
      </article-categories>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>After the Quantum Advantage Claim: Which Drug-Discovery Problems Are Actually Ready for Quantum Computation?</article-title>
      </title-group>
                    <contrib-group>
                      <contrib contrib-type="author">
              <name>
                <surname>Meyer</surname>
                <given-names>Lucas</given-names>
              </name>
                              <xref rid="aff1" ref-type="aff">1</xref>
                                                            <xref rid="cor1" ref-type="corresp" />
                          </contrib>
                      <contrib contrib-type="author">
              <name>
                <surname>Schmid</surname>
                <given-names>Anna</given-names>
              </name>
                              <xref rid="aff2" ref-type="aff">2</xref>
                                        </contrib>
                      <contrib contrib-type="author">
              <name>
                <surname>Braun</surname>
                <given-names>Stefan</given-names>
              </name>
                              <xref rid="aff1" ref-type="aff">1</xref>
                                        </contrib>
                      <contrib contrib-type="author">
              <name>
                <surname>Keller</surname>
                <given-names>Laura</given-names>
              </name>
                              <xref rid="aff3" ref-type="aff">3</xref>
                                        </contrib>
                  </contrib-group>
                  <aff id="aff1">
            <label>1</label>Department of Quantum Computation Readiness in Drug Discovery, Faculty of Pharmacy, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
          </aff>
                  <aff id="aff2">
            <label>2</label>Department of Problem-Specific Quantum Applicability, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
          </aff>
                  <aff id="aff3">
            <label>3</label>Department of Beyond-Quantum-Advantage Problem Selection, Faculty of Pharmacy, EPFL Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
          </aff>
                          <author-notes>
            <corresp id="cor1">
              <bold>Address for correspondence:</bold> Prof. Wael Abu Dayyih, Department of
              Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mutah University, Al-Karak 61710, Jordan.
                              E-mail: <email xlink:href="lucas.meyer@ethz.ch">lucas.meyer@ethz.ch</email>
                          </corresp>
          </author-notes>
                    <pub-date pub-type="epub">
        <day>28</day>
        <month>08</month>
        <year>2026</year>
      </pub-date>
      <volume>17</volume>
      <issue>4</issue>
      <fpage>157</fpage>
      <lpage>168</lpage>
      <permissions>
        <copyright-statement>
          Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Pharmacophore
        </copyright-statement>
        <copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
        <license>
          <ali:license_ref xmlns:ali="http://www.niso.org/schemas/ali/1.0/"
            specific-use="textmining" content-type="ccbyncsalicense">
            https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/</ali:license_ref>
          <license-p>This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of
            the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows
            others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate
            credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.</license-p>
        </license>
      </permissions>
      <abstract>
        <title>A<sc>BSTRACT</sc></title>
        <p>Quantum computation is increasingly presented as a potential response to difficult molecular-simulation, optimization, and machine-learning problems in drug discovery. However, the existence of computationally demanding pharmaceutical tasks does not establish that quantum methods can solve them more accurately, efficiently, or usefully than contemporary classical approaches. This horizon-scanning review evaluates which problem classes currently justify bounded quantum research programs and which remain dependent on unresolved hardware, algorithmic, benchmarking, data, or translational assumptions. The review applies an evidence-gated assessment that separates technical execution, benchmark performance, plausible computational utility, experimental confirmation, pharmaceutical decision impact, and routine readiness. The synthesis distinguishes near-term variational and hybrid approaches from fault-tolerant molecular simulation, quantum-assisted classical workflows, quantum machine learning, and optimization-oriented proposals. Current evidence supports the feasibility of selected small-system calculations, restricted molecular-property models, and hybrid workflow components, but it does not support routine pharmaceutical readiness for any broad drug-discovery problem class. The most defensible long-horizon opportunities concern chemically consequential electronic-structure and dynamical problems in which strong correlation limits classical approximations. Nearer-term value is more plausibly sought through tightly scoped hybrid experiments, application-structured benchmarking, and prospective evaluations that isolate the contribution of the quantum component. The article proposes a quantum readiness horizon map and a problem-level assessment framework rather than a universal technology maturity ranking. These conceptual contributions are intended to organize evidence and research priorities; they are not validated prediction tools. Readiness judgments remain conditional on continuing improvements in classical computation, hardware architecture, error control, resource estimation, data suitability, experimental validation, and integration into pharmaceutical decision workflows.</p>
      </abstract>
      <kwd-group>
                <kwd>Quantum computing</kwd>
                <kwd>Drug discovery</kwd>
                <kwd>Quantum chemistry</kwd>
                <kwd>Quantum machine learning</kwd>
                <kwd>Molecular simulation</kwd>
                <kwd>Pharmaceutical benchmarking</kwd>
              </kwd-group>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
</article>