Pattern recognition methods in rational drug design.

Pattern recognition methods have much to offer the drug designer, particularly as the calculation and collation of data, both biological and physicochemical, becomes easier with the widespread use of computer databases, molecular modeling systems, and property prediction packages. Some of the techniques, however, suffer from difficulties in interpretation and the dangers of chance effects have received little attention. The wider use and understanding of these methods is expected to enhance their utility in drug design. Finally, it should be mentioned here that these methods are becoming applied increasingly in other areas of pharmaceutical research, e.g., the analysis of clinical data, and that new techniques for analysis continue to be developed and applied in this field.