Novel collaboration to use genomics and big data to drive drug discovery

A pioneering public-private research initiative between UK pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK), the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is to harness the power of “big data” and genome sequencing to improve the success rate for discovering new medicines.

The new Center for Therapeutic Target Validation (CTTV) will aim to address a wide range of human diseases and will share its data openly in the interests of accelerating drug discovery. Without being specific, GSK has indicted that it will contribute “multi-million” pounds to fund initial projects.

The CTTV aims to use the almost daily advances in cutting-edge genetic research to help researchers in that crucial first step in exploring new medicines – finding where to start. Target validation is about clearly defining the role that a biological process plays in disease before developing a new drug to tackle it. Currently, an estimated 90% of compounds entering clinical trials fail to demonstrate the necessary efficacy and safety requirements, never reaching patients as medicines. This is often because the biological target for a drug is not well understood.