Quantitative Methods in System-Based Drug Discovery

Modern pharmaceutical industries have faced significant challenges to deliver safe and effective medicines because of significant toxicity and severe side effects of discovered drugs. On the other hand, recent developments and advances in system-based pharmacology aim to address these challenges. In this chapter, we provide an overview of quantitative methods for system-based drug discovery. System-based drug discovery integrates chemical, molecular, and systematic information and applies this knowledge to the designing of small molecules with controlled toxicity and minimized side effects. First, we discuss current approaches for drug discovery and outline their advantages and disadvantages. Next, we introduce basic concepts of systems pharmacology with an emphasis on ligand-based drug discovery and target identification. This is followed by a discussion on structure-based drug design and statistical tools for pharmaceutical research. Finally, we provide an overview of future directions in systems pharmacology that will guide further developments.