Application value of quantitative system pharmacology in drug discovery for traditional Chinese medicine

Abstract

Quantitative system pharmacology (QSP) is a discipline that combines computational models of systems biology and systems pharmacology. With the development of high-throughput genomics techniques (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) as well as computer and bioinformatics methods, systems biology and systems pharmacology modeling are widely used to comprehend human biology and disease progression, predict the effectiveness and safety of drug candidates. Due to the advancement of big data and high-quality database, the application of QSP, especially the pre-clinical stage that guides early drug discovery, is increasingly widespread. The traditional drug discovery process takes a long time yet has a low success rate. The early intervention and full participation of QSP in the development of new drugs discovery can form a model-led drug development model to improve the efficiency of drug discovery and scientific appraise, reduce the cost of research and development, and shorten the time to market for new drugs. This article reviews the differences between QSP and other quantitative pharmacology, the problems faced by traditional Chinese medicine research, and the value of QSP in traditional Chinese medicine research, with a view to providing reference and support for the research and development of new traditional Chinese medicine.