ABSTRACT
The advent of polypharmacology along with network biology has revolutionised the field of omics data sciences and drug discovery. The amalgamation of these two methods gave rise to network pharmacology. Network pharmacology has advanced greatly over the past decade due to advancements in systems biology. The seismic effect of such advances is felt in medical biotechnology and has resulted in a paradigm shift in drug discovery from the so-called “one drug, one target” to more “multiple target therapeutics”. Network pharmacology aims to develop network models for therapeutics by targeting disease at the systems level with a lesser risk of drug resistance and other drug-associated complications. Natural products in the form of traditional medicines all over the world comprise multicomponent formulations that have a plethora of bioactive compounds. However, a robust scientific rationalization method is still lacking. The development of network pharmacology provides a tool to potentially unlock and develop a scientific evidence-based library for the “rediscovery” of natural products-based therapy. This chapter highlights and discusses network pharmacology as a key to unlocking the potential medicinal treasure trove that is natural products.
