Mechanistic Vs. Empirical Network Models of Drug Action

Declining success rates coupled with increased costs is leading to an inevitable breaking point in the drug development pipeline. Can we avoid it by incorporating the vast mechanistic understanding of drug action? A recent review highlights this dilemma and proposes “quantitative logic gate” modeling as a solution.(1) The goal of this commentary is to contrast this approach with mechanistic biochemical network models, which, although alluded to by Kiruoac and Onsum, requires a closer analysis.