Using Big Data to develop better medicines

Using Big Data to develop better medicines

A project of the pharmaceutical GSK and the European Institute of Bioinformatics will use computer science and genomic sequencing to improve the success rate of new drugs

   A pioneering public-private research initiative between GSK, the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute will try to harness the power of 'Big Data' and genome sequencing to improve the success rate in the development of new medications This new Therapeutic Objective Validation Center (CTTV) aims to address the treatment of a wide range of human diseases and will share its data in the open in order to accelerate the discovery of new drugs.

  The CTTV intends to use the latest advances in genetic research to help in this crucial first step in the exploration of new medicines. The validation of objectives consists of clearly defining the role played by a biological process in the disease in order to develop a new drug that will face it. Currently, it is estimated that 90 percent of the compounds that enter clinical trials do not meet the requirements of efficacy and safety, so they never reach patients as medicines. This is often due to a misunderstanding of the biological target of the medication.

"The Therapeutic Objective Validation Center is a collaboration to improve the discovery process of new drugs," says Dr. Ewan Birney, director of the EBI and interim head of CTTV. "The pre-competitive nature of the center is fundamental: the collaboration of the EBI and the Sanger Institute with GSK allows us to do most of the commercial and R & D practice, but the data and information will be available to all. it will be applicable to many different areas of knowledge, from the integration of data to genomics or to the challenge of creating better medicines. "

For his part, Professor Patrick Vallance, president of R & D in Pharmaceutical Products of GSK, says that "validation is one of the greatest challenges in the discovery of drugs." We have to better understand the mechanisms of our body related to the disease. to improve the way we can develop more effective medicines By changing our business model, with a more open approach to the exchange of information and the establishment of collaborations such as CTTV, we believe that there is an opportunity to accelerate the development of innovative new medicines "