Evolving ‘-omics’ technologies in the drug development process

Abstract

The strength of the '-omics' technologies lies in their ability to monitor the activity of biomolecules in a large-scale, high-throughput fashion shortening the overall time needed for the discovery of a new drug. Recent advances in technology have resulted in a higher reproducibility and enhanced sensitivity, thus allowing for a more precise deciphering of a pathologic process. However, because of strict standardization criteria that demands strong financial support and the availability of highly specialized experts, the importance of dedicated core facilities or specialized units becomes central. Today, the 'omics' approach in biomedicine has become more pathway-oriented and is complemented by several other experimental approaches, data analyses, pathway informatics, literature mining and mathematical modeling processes, all of which are contained within systems biology. The authors believe that systems biology is an integrated approach that can offer a solution to some of the major bottlenecks in drug discovery and can foster target identification, allowing the drug to target molecules relevant to disease pathways. In this perspective, the authors touch on the present state of the mainstream '-omics' technologies already in use in drug discovery as well as their shortcomings and perspectives for future applications.