Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
a dozen were purchased and shipped to Africa, and when tested in the assay,
these known drugs were shown to almost completely reverse (seven-fold
reversal) the resistance in human blood cells [19]. We have also worked with
groups to facilitate computational modeling of malaria data using the public
data in the CDD malaria database which was then used for further database
screening in silico. Recently we have added data for compounds active against
malaria from GSK, Novartis, and other groups [47].
We anticipate that as we add more data sets we will create a combined
neglected disease database that will grow into a major resource to help utilize
limited research and development (R&D) resources more effectively to accel-
erate the discovery of better treatments for these diseases. These databases
can be searched in CDD alongside private data sets in secure vaults. Because
CDD already has over 3 million unique molecules for humanitarian and com-
mercial applications, one can be confi dent that the architecture and processes
will scale well for any drug discovery applications.
These proof-of-concept studies illustrate how (1) CDD can create a com-
munity which fosters archiving of data into a database for selective sharing,
(2) groups will share some of their data with the community at large, (3) these
data can then be used for creation of computational models, and (4) the com-
putational models can then be used for searching the other open data sets or
private data sets deposited in CDD to discover new compounds for testing.
21.5 PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES CHANGING THEIR
BUSINESS MODEL TO INCREASE COLLABORATION AND
CROWDSOURCING
There is a new urgency within pharmaceutical companies to cut back on inter-
nal drug discovery and to rely more on external collaborations with smaller
companies and academics to bring them leads. Besides crowdsourcing tools
like Innocentive, there are also other novel approaches, for example, the Lilly
Phenotypic Drug Discovery (PD
2
) initiative, a website where scientists can
securely submit their molecules for evaluation by Lilly prior to selection and
legal processing, that precedes in vitro testing for various diseases. We are
rapidly approaching a future for biomedical research where loose networks of
researchers from companies, academics, or consultants can create aligned com-
munities around shared interests to gather ideas and advance projects. This
represents an example of crowdsourcing, where the wisdom of the many and
their varied perspectives benefi t community-based efforts [48]. Good exam-
ples include online databases such as PubChem, the Chemical Entities of
Biological Interest (ChEBI) database, DrugBank, the Human Metabolome
Database, and ChemSpider [24, 25, 49], in addition to commercial databases
[50] and collaborative systems like CDD.
We think the PD
2
approach could be extended to neglected diseases. By
providing an entry point in the CDD database, submitters could send their
molecules for evaluation. The molecules would pass through various desir-
Search WWH ::
Custom Search