Metabolomics

Early Patient Stratification is Critical to Enable Effective and Personalised Drug Discovery and Development By Dr David A Fryburg, Dr Diane H Song and Dr David de Graaf With the current chances of an efficacious outcome in Phase II for novel mechanisms being in the region of 1 in 5, we argue the need for […]

By Dr Stephen Naylor and Paul T. Babcock Mass Spectrometry is a mature technology predicated on a premise demonstrated almost a century ago. It is widely used in most scientific disciplines involving basic research or industrial endeavours, that require accurate and precise measurement of elemental and molecular components. More recently it has become one of […]

Towards Unbiased Biomarker Discovery Dr Jens Hoefkens High-throughput molecular profiling technologies are routinely applied for biomarker discovery to make the drug discovery process more efficient and enable personalised medicine. The ability to find novel biomarkers rests on large-scale data generation and unbiased data analysis. Over the past decade, biomarker discovery has become important in many […]

High Content Screening – The next challenge: effective data mining and exploration By Dr Kurt Zingler and Dr Stephan Heyse The use of high content screening within HTS is growing and with many past hurdles now overcome, the need for effective tools for data analysis is becoming paramount. Over the past several years, high content […]

Perspectives for ADMET Integration in the Discovery Process By Dr Constance Hofer ADMET (ADME/Tox), is a relatively new symbiotic acronym for the investigation of basic compound behaviour in terms of absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion, combined with assessments of toxicity. The emergence of ADMET instead of ADME reflects the growing practice of combining in vitro […]

Molecular Diagnostics in Drug Development – The changing face of pharmaceutical discovery By Dr Berwyn Clarke Clinical drug development is moving into an era where high technology new diagnostics are key to the development of the majority of new drugs. Markers are now available that can be used as surrogate endpoints for efficacy while others […]

Tools for Target Identification, Validation and Biomarker Discovery By Dr Paul Denny-Gouldson As automation in the drug discovery arena increases then so does the amount and complexity of the data. We discuss an emerging solution that now integrates various technologies to provide a scientific data intelligence tool giving scientists increasing scope to identify, evaluate and […]

Personalised Medicine – Technological innovation and patient empowerment or exuberant hyperbole? By Adam W. Culbertson, Dr Stephen J. Valentine and Dr Stephen Naylor The current paradigm of modern healthcare focuses on patient symptoms, subsequent diagnosis and corresponding treatment of the specific disease(s). Escalating healthcare costs and a trial and error approach to diagnosing and treating […]

The Genome as a Tool for Drug Discovery and Development the Case for Embracing Complexity By Dr Kenneth C. Carter Conventional drug discovery and development is centred on a paradigm in which ‘validated’ targets are subjected to in vitro screens for the identification of new drug candidates. Molecular profiling using genomic approaches is becoming an […]

By Dr George G. Harrigan The potential of metabolomics, a systems approach to biochemical pathway analysis, to yield scientific and commercial benefits to healthcare and biotechnology enterprises is increasingly recognised. This article discusses current applications and future developments and places an emphasis on incorporation of metabolomics within all aspects of the value chain of drug […]

The Role of the Medicinal Chemist in the Drug Discovery Process: current status and future prospects By Dr Stevan W Djuric The need for the pharmaceutical industry to produce a constant stream of new NCEs has never been more paramount but with constantly changing R&D paradigms what is the role of the modern medicinal chemist? […]

The future of the CRO industry By Gilbert Godin The pressures on Pharma/Biotech to control R&D costs while improving the yield of new, approvable drugs indicate an even greater reliance on outsourcing. So what will the next five years bring for the CRO industry? Five years ago, as we approached the new millennium, the prevailing […]

Applying the semantic web to drug discovery and development By Dr Eric Neumann There is much happening in drug development these days: new target classes, increasing costs, new forms of high throughput screening, and the promise of personalised medicine. But of all the issues, the one that now takes centre stage (and directly impacts the […]

The search for validated biomarkers in the face of biosystems complexity By Professor Ian Humphery-Smith and Will Dracup As the pharmaceutical industry is all too well aware, the genomics and postgenomic sciences have delivered an excessive number of drug targets few of which have been well validated. Indeed, apart from a few rare exceptions, genomics […]

Overview of biomarkers in disease, drug discovery and development By Professor Stephen Naylor The pharmaceutical industry and the healthcare sector are both confronted with expensive technological innovation, escalating costs and pointed questions about productivity and efficiency. The parallels between the problems of producing new therapeutic agents and treating patients afflicted with poorly understood diseases are […]

Metabonomics – A generic platform for the investigation of drug toxicity, altered gene function and disease processes By Professor Jeremy K. Nicholson Metabonomics can offer one of the most complete solutions to tackling one of the pharmaceutical industry’s biggest problems attrition. This article discusses the scope and uses of metabonomics in different areas of the […]