Modular pharmacology: the next paradigm in drug discovery

Effective regulation of abnormal targets of disease requires the alteration of either the topological structure or dynamic characteristics of modules in a given target network. In order to disturb the complex direct and indirect target hubs, new approaches in adaptive pharmacology should be developed to regulate target loops using module-based designs.

This review discusses the formation in disease-associated structural networks with multiple drug targets and the optimization of a multi-objective system of modules.

On the basis of these concepts, modular pharmacology (MP) has emerged as a method that can balance multiple outcomes by regulating the response of property modules on the basis of the benefits and risks of diversified modules and drugs, thereby allowing novel approaches for drug discovery. Further research of pharmacological mechanisms underlying diversity interactions between multiple modules is necessary for a better understanding of the basic therapeutic processes.