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Yes, genomics does offer the promise of significant commercial
profitability to the pharmaceutical community, according to
brokers at Merrill Lynch. Today's 400 or so targets will increase
to at least 4,000 during the next decade. If these numbers
are achieved, today's $340 billion pharmaceutical market could
grow to $3 trillion by 2020.
Many opinion leaders believe "one has to get access to proprietary
molecular targets in time - miss the window and you can only
get blockbusters by in-licensing."
Pharmacogenomics (as distinct from pharmacogenetics
- i.e. how genetic differences influence the variability in
patients' responses to drugs) is the study of how a gene works
and its relationship to drug action.
Professor Allen Roses, VP and Director of Worldwide Genetics
at Glaxo Wellcome, speaking to IMS HEALTH, said, "The timeframe
for what will emerge from pharmacogenomics is 10-15 years
down the road. The majority of the big companies have taken
the decision to keep their finger in the water. They are doing
minimalist deals with the biotech industry, just to keep on
top of it."
Implications of genes
Genes are made up of building blocks of DNA. Minor variations
can occur in this DNA, which in some cases are associated
with disease. These variations are known as SNPs,
or single nucleotide polymorphisms. SNPs may influence illness
in three ways:
- they could be the direct cause of a disease, for example
haemophilia
- be one of several genetic influences of a disease, for
example hypertension, depression
- be a marker of disease caused by other genes
Soon, diseases that have been viewed as one, like hypertension,
will be seen as many. Doctors will diagnose several kinds
of hypertension, each with a specific
therapy identified through the use of pharmacogenomics.
Such a scenario will replace the 'one size fits all' approach
of today.
Implications of genomics
Genomic drug discovery has five important implications:
- an explosion in drug targets
- novel and more efficacious drugs, due to a better understanding
of how the gene works
- decreased development
time and cost and improved efficacy and profitability
of both new and existing drugs
- selection of higher quality targets in trials with
subsequent reduced attrition rates
- the possibility to minimise the severity of many genetic
disorders and sporadic cancers and allow for more efficacious
treatments
Dr Roy Pettipher, Director of Business Development at Oxagen
(formed in 1997 as a spin-out from the Wellcome Trust Centre
for Human Genetics) told IMS HEALTH:
"It is imperative to select the best targets among all the
opportunities offered by genomics. Genomics is leading to
an explosion in the number of potential targets. The challenge
will be to select those targets that are linked to a critical
disease pathway - one way to do this is through the use of
genomics in well-characterised clinical populations."
It is anticipated that understanding the genetic basis of
disease will lead to the development of safer therapies, which
will have a more profound impact on the disease process and
may even be used to prevent disease onset.
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