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Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 4, 461–467 (1 June 2005) | doi:10.1038/nrd1754

Can cell systems biology rescue drug discovery?

Eugene C. Butcher

The focus of innovation in current drug discovery is on new targets, yet compound efficacy and safety in biological models of disease — not target selection — are the criteria that determine which drug candidates enter the clinic. We consider a biology-driven approach to drug discovery that involves screening compounds by automated response profiling in disease models based on complex human-cell systems. Drug discovery through cell systems biology could significantly reduce the time and cost of new drug development.