No Discrete Molecular Target

The term "No Discrete Molecular Target" is used when a drug, probe, or biological agent is believed to have effects in a biological system, but the precise molecular entity with which it interacts—such as a protein, receptor, enzyme, or nucleic acid—has not been identified or is not annotated. This may be observed for agents identified by phenotypic screening, older drugs discovered before modern molecular pharmacology, or compounds whose actions are multifactorial and not limited to a single molecular species[3]. In modern drug discovery, the number of drugs with truly undefined or unknown primary targets is quite small due to advances in chemoinformatic and experimental annotation[3]. Using this designation signals missing, incomplete, or ambiguous molecular target information and indicates that structured, specific molecular data are not available for this entry.

Other names

No discrete targetN/A targetUndefined molecular targetUnknown target