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Updated: Jun 26, 2026

Diagonal Method to Measure Synergy Among Any Number of Drugs
Published on: June 21, 2018
Mechanisms of drug combinations: interaction and network perspectives
Jia Jia1, Feng Zhu, Xiaohua Ma
1Bioinformatics and Drug Design Group, Department of Pharmacy, Department of Biological Science, Center for Computational Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543.
Abstract:
Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying synergistic, potentiative and antagonistic effects of drug combinations could facilitate the discovery of novel efficacious combinations and multi-targeted agents. In this article, we describe an extensive investigation of the published literature on drug combinations for which the combination effect has been evaluated by rigorous analysis methods and for which relevant molecular interaction profiles of the drugs involved are available. Analysis of the 117 drug combinations identified reveals general and specific modes of action, and highlights the potential value of molecular interaction profiles in the discovery of novel multicomponent therapies.
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