8 February 2008
Bruce Gomes
Systems Biology Group
Pfizer Inc.
When reading reviews of systems biology it would seem that this method should be immediately adopted as the new paradigm for drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry. This methodology promises to pick the best approach for amelioration of disease pathology by choosing the optimal target for drug design; identify co-drugging strategies; find the most discriminating biomarkers; stratify patients for clinical trials; militate against toxic outcomes; and overall, reduce drug discovery attrition. Yet, the adoption of systems biology methods in the industry is cautious and slow. This talk will discuss what the limitations of systems biology are that slow its adoption. These limitations are the starting points for the generation of new approaches that are a fertile area for the interface between academic labs and the pharmaceutical industry.
Even without the large scale adoption of systems biology methodologies in the industry, these methods are being used to some extent. This talk will highlight one area of systems biology that is currently being used very successfully, namely the small to moderate sized models created to predict the behavior and properties of biotherapeutics.