The human genome project was completed nearly four years ago and interest in genomics reached its peak in late 2000. At that time the promise of human genome research and genomics revolution was predicted to have an incredible impact on the drug discovery process. While the biotechnology industry has thousands of new targets that it can exploit for drug discovery, the real impact of genomics revolution is still decades away. In the short-term the industry is facing an information overload and too many poorly understood targets. Due to the multifactorial nature of many chronic diseases it is still not possible to develop an integrated understanding of cellular components and the way they function to create pathophysiology.
In order to capture the true promise of genomics the industry would need to take the whole-genome biology to the next level by integrating “wet biology” and the “digital biology”. It is only after we have developed a systems biology approach to these diseases that we can effectively apply chemistry and pharmacology for identifying the next generation of pharmaceuticals. It is widely believed that over the coming decades the pharmaceutical industry will evolve through a period translational medicine to ultimately highly personalized healthcare.
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