Your point is a very important one. Do we check the interactions of a tentative drug molecule against every single molecular target in the body, and do we track

Your point is a very important one. Do we check the interactions of a tentative drug molecule against every single molecular target in the body, and do we track what happens as a result of all those interactions? It’s quite common that a group of ”usual suspects” on the researchers’ radar get checked for — but by necessity, a lot of ground goes uninvestigated. > Consider valproic acid: For many decades, its only use was in laboratories as a "metabolically inert" solvent for organic compounds Speaking of ”inert” solvents: > Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is the most common organic solvent used in biochemical and cellular assays during drug discovery programs. > Despite its wide use, the effect of DMSO on several enzyme classes, which are crucial targets of the new therapeutic agents, are still unexplored. > 1-4% (v/v) DMSO, the commonly used experimental concentrations, showed ∼37-80% inhibition of human acetylcholine-degrading enzyme, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) (DMSO: A Mixed-Competitive Inhibitor of Human Acetylcholinesterase. ACS Chem Neurosci. 2017 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29017007/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29017007/) Oops! How many investigations on specific drugs were in fact showing mostly the results of what happens when interfering with one of the most ubiquitous-yet-underappreciated signalling systems, the cholinergic system? I’m hoping widespread & systematic application of modern methods like in-silico molecular docking studies will lead to much fewer such oversights.