Article preview from Start-Up 9-01-09
Drug developers can now tap into an array of new preclinical technologies including some that give them the ability to interrogate compounds in a broad biological context-a systems biology approach. In this issue, we profile four start-ups with technologies designed to predict drugs' efficacy: Champions Biotechnology, Cytox, Immuneering and Rhenovia. Read more...
Looking Forward to Pharma's Decade of Predictive Efficacy
Drug developers can now tap into an array of new preclinical technologies including some that give them the ability to interrogate compounds in a broad biological context—a systems biology approach.
The next hurdle pharma faces as it endeavors to limit the cost and time associated with its drug development failures is the headache of predictive efficacy. Emergent diagnostics/research tools companies are lining up for the opportunity to help, offering diversity both in approaches and in therapeutic areas.
In the 1980s, the majority of drugs that were tabled had poor pharmacokinetics, leading to a heavy pharma investment in predictive pharmacokinetics. In the 1990s, the development challenge migrated downstream to toxicology, so pharma invested in preclinical models to predict toxicity in human organs and genes. Now, with efforts well underway on those fronts, industry faces the challenge of predictive efficacy, of finding ways to eliminate compounds early in preclinical testing if their likelihood of making a meaningful clinical impact is too low to justify further investment.
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