Target- and System-based Strategies for Drug Discovery-9
The identification of primary biological activity on the target of interest is just one of a series of requirements for a drug. A major approach to discovery is the target-based approach, whereby a single biological target is identified as a primary cause of disease. Ligands that produce a defined action at the target are therefore expected to alleviate the disease in the therapeutic situation. Recombinant systems are the main tools of target-based approaches. These can be manipulated, but information is lacking for complete modeling of therapeutic systems. An alternative approach involves testing of new drug entities on whole-cell systems and measuring effects on integrated cellular pathways. Favorable phenotypic responses are identified with this approach that may better produce alteration of multicomponent disease processes. The ultimate model is the human in the clinical situation. It is found that translational medicine with noninvasive imaging techniques and biomarkers is able to furnish valuable information that can be used in the initial discovery process to produce better defined drugs
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