Erica P. Johnson
Imagine being able to discover the latest blockbuster drug using nothing but a PC and some highly sophisticated software. It's not as far-fetched as it sounds. A growing number of labs – both industrial and academic – are going "in silico," simulating everything from cells to clinical trials. The result is a sea change in pharmaceutical research, with resources once earmarked for bench work now being shunted into central processing unit clock cycles.
This shift in focus is due largely to the inefficiency of traditional drug development. Time and time again, billions of research dollars are used on promising drug candidates that fail in late-stage clinical trials. "This industry is built on success, of course, but it's shaped by failure," says John Savin, executive director of Oxford, UK-based Physiomics. Computer modeling firms believe adoption of their methods can help drug companies weed out failures early and focus ...
