New disease targets frequently emerge in literature, but the thorough target validation required to consider these targets for a drug discovery programme is often lacking.
In pharmacological or genetic perturbation studies using complex biological assays, undesired off-target effects cannot be easily distinguished from the intended mode of action at the desired target. This is especially evident in cancer drug development where it is important to discriminate on-target effects on cell viability from off-target effects resulting in non-specific loss of cellular fitness.
By Dr Anne-Marie Zuurmond, et al.
