Joint strength statistical methods

Ligand- and structure-based approaches are valuable tools for the identification and optimization of lead compounds. Each strategy needs special prerequisites and has strengths and weaknesses. In some cases only the strengths of both methods may be combined for a joint approach, called structure-based pharmacophore alignment. Here, the receptor site serves as a complement to build the pharmacophore model and sophisticated statistical methods from 3D-QSAR (PCA and PLS) are applied for the prediction of activity [19, 20]. 

To check for possible additional dispersion effects, fit joint location-dispersion models. These methods are easier to implement than the statistics proposed for identifying multiple dispersion effects. They give both estimates of the strength of the dispersion effects and approximate test statistics. 

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