ABSTRACT
Drug development is driven by the notion that pharmacotherapeutic advantage is reached through selective toxicity (Albert 1985). Drugs work preferably via interaction with a single target, that is, a receptor, an enzyme, or a transporter. On interaction, a clearly dened strong response is elicited. This response can be regarded as a disturbance of homeostasis and thus is in itself a toxic response. The uniqueness of the target involved renders selectivity to the response. The basis for pharmacotherapy is selective toxicity. In past decades, this approach has led to the discovery of many successful drugs. The paradigm of selective toxicity was nourished by visual techniques (Guner 2000). The term pharmacophore was introduced in the early 1900s indicating “a molecular framework that carries (phoros) the essential features responsible for a drug’s (pharmacon) biological activity” (Ehrlich 1909).
