Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been known for over a decade to have the potential to greatly enhance the process of developing novel therapeutic drugs for prevalent health conditions. However, the use of fMRI in drug development continues to be relatively limited because of a variety of technical, biological, and strategic barriers that continue to limit progress. Here, we briefly review the roles that fMRI can have in the drug development process and the requirements it must meet to be useful in this setting. We then provide an update on our current understanding of the strengths and limitations of fMRI as a tool for drug developers and recommend activities to enhance its utility.

功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）十多年来一直被认为有潜力极大地促进针对常见健康状况的新型治疗药物的开发过程。然而，由于各种技术、生物和战略障碍继续限制进展，功能磁共振成像在药物开发中的应用仍然相对有限。在这里，我们简要回顾一下功能磁共振成像在药物开发过程中的作用以及它必须满足的要求才能在这种情况下发挥作用。然后，我们提供了我们目前对功能磁共振成像作为药物开发商工具的优势和局限性的最新了解，并建议了增强其实用性的活动。