Elsevier

Drug Discovery Today

Volume 4, Issue 3, 1 March 1999, Pages 109-114
Drug Discovery Today

Review
Functional genomics: from genes to new therapies

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1359-6446(99)01310-0Get rights and content

Abstract

The application of genomics in pharmaceutical R&D is presently one of the central issues in the industry. The evolution of functional genomics approaches and their integration into a technology platform for therapeutic discovery is a challenging and complex process. In this review, the authors describe how functional genomics will offer significant opportunities in the search for causal and disease-modifying therapies for better treatment of society’s most outstanding medical needs.

Section snippets

Strategic considerations in building a competitive functional genomics platform

The race to discover, develop and market new therapeutics is a fiercely competitive one, requiring significant investment in human creativity, money and time. Currently, marketed drugs interact with ∼400 genes or gene products and estimated numbers of important genes for disease predisposition, onset and progression range from 3000–10,000 out of the total of ∼100,000 genes in the human genome. Hence, many opportunities remain to identify novel genes and proteins as proprietary targets for

Scientific and technology challenges in functional genomics

Presently, a large and rapidly growing amount of gene-sequence information is available from the different genome projects in the public domain, biotechnology sector and from pharmaceutical gene-discovery efforts. The challenge in establishing a competitive functional genomics programme is the ability to handle the enormous amount of information resulting from the analysis of differential gene-expression studies. For example, differential gene expression in normal versus diseased tissues,

The human factor and functional genomics

Creating and maintaining a leading scientific team in this fast-moving environment will remain a key factor for managers of functional genomics programmes. Attracting the best scientists and informatics personnel is a priority process and Novartis is pursuing a proactive approach to staffing its groups. Visits by Novartis research managers and scientists to premier academic institutions and presentation of the company’s mission and goals has been one of the best mechanisms to attract

Outlook and conclusion

Functional genomics approaches and technologies will have an impact on other areas of pharmaceutical R&D beyond discovery research. Pharmacogenomics activities to profile the efficacy and side effects of new and existing therapies in subsets of patients within a given disease category also hold the promise of addressing ‘personalized’ medical needs. In the molecular diagnostics field, the availability of a meaningful number of precisely located single-nucleotide polymorphic (SNP) sites spanning

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Thomas Pietzonka for his help in critically reviewing this manuscript and Debra George for her dedicated assistance with literature searching.

References (19)

  • B.A. Yankner

    Neuron

    (1996)
  • D. Cohen et al.

    Nature

    (1993)
  • J.D. Watson

    Science

    (1990)
  • C. Fields

    Nat. Genet.

    (1994)
  • D.J. Selkoe

    Science

    (1997)
  • M. Goedert

    Nature

    (1997)
  • M.H. Polymeropoulos

    Science

    (1997)
  • C.R. Kahn

    Annu. Rev. Med.

    (1996)
  • D.S. Postma

    New Engl. J. Med.

    (1995)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (26)

  • Towards quantitative biology: Integration of biological information to elucidate disease pathways and to guide drug discovery

    2005, Biotechnology Annual Review
    Citation Excerpt :

    To address these problems that often occur in the later stages of a drug development programme or even during clinical tests, there has been a recent emphasis on optimizing the earlier stages in the drug discovery process, with a key problem identified as the choice of appropriate targets [3]. The currently marketed drugs interact with only approximately 400 genes or gene products, with an estimated several thousands of genes being important genes for disease predisposition, onset and progression [9]. Interestingly, the number of functionally uncharacterised human genes is still very high, with estimates ranging from 30–50% genes coding for a gene product of unknown function [37,56].

  • Genomics: From novel genes to new therapeutics in parasitology

    2000, International Journal for Parasitology
View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text