Network pharmacology-a new philosophy for understanding of drug action and discovery of new drugs

Network pharmacology investigates the interaction between the drug and body by mapping drug-target(polypharmacology) networks onto biological networks.Network pharmacology challenges the traditional concept one disease,one target,one drug,and represents the modern philosophy and pattern of biomedical research as a new branch of pharmacology.Based on systems biology and network biology,network pharmacology with holistic and systemic features is focused on network equilibrium(or robustness) and network disturbance.Understanding the status,fundamental dynamics and kinetics of individual biological molecules in the biological network is more important than the specific biological function.Understanding the biological and kinetic profile of the drug is more important than individual validation of targets or combinations of targets.Network-based drug discovery is to create new drugs-regulating networks.Network pharmacology has profound influence on the philosophy of clinical drug therapeutics and drug discovery.