Growing European Market for Gene Expression

This technique provides the initial answers as to whether a potential therapeutic compound merits further evaluation and testing, making it immensely useful for drug discovery and development. Despite its considerable benefits, however, gene expression still faces continued hurdles.

According to a new report from Frost & Sullivan (Palo Alto, CA, USA), an international consulting firm, the market for gene expression in Europe earned revenues of $405.6 million in 2005 and is estimated to reach $1.9 billion in 2012.

Within the realm of drug discovery and development, the expression of genes helps to develop new therapeutics, identify early warning signs of disease, and even sub-classify patients based not on symptoms but on the abnormal changes observed in their specific cells,” observed Dr. Amarpreet Dhiman, program leader of drug discovery technologies at Frost & Sullivan. "The revolution in the drug-discovery process has recently been driven by the belief that proteomics will facilitate a better understanding of the basic processes of life science, and thus deliver a substantially higher number of drug targets, candidate drugs, and novel therapeutics.”

Advances in understanding cancer biology, human genetics, disease pathogenesis, and molecular pharmacology are all promising, since they hold great potential for the discovery of new approaches to treat cancers.

Progress and expectation have been heightened by initiatives such as the human genome project. These are being reinforced by technology advances that permit genome-wide analysis of cancer cells and facilitate the synthesis and high-throughput screening of selected candidate compounds against defined targets.

Changes in gene expression underlie many biologic phenomena. About half of gene-expression research is applied in the field of cancer, while other segments are applied to cardiovascular diseases, immune and inflammatory diseases (such as AIDS and asthma), and central nervous system disorders. This research leads to the creation of new diagnostic tests and enables the field of personalized medicine.

"The collection, organization, and analysis of large amounts of biologic data using networks of computers and databases have resulted in a data explosion, and has created a compelling need for establishing robust infrastructures in order to make progress and streamline the drug discovery processes,” cautioned Dr. Dhiman. "There are many software tools for data handling, but there is a pressing need for tools that can change data knowledge into a palatable format understood by biologists.”

Cross comparison of data across platforms is required, as some laboratories may want to use their home brew microarrays in conjunction with equipment and accessories from the commercial sector. Gene-expression data validation is another major impediment. The read-out obtained from data has to undergo sufficient biologic repeat experiments to corroborate findings, as well as to secure statistical relevant information.

Microarrays, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and RNAi have all been gaining prominence in this microtechnology era. While there have been major scientific breakthroughs that have added great value to changing the paradigm of drug discovery, the major question remains as to whether these technologies are cost-effective.

"Although there is a clear indication of the potential for drugs to reach the market faster, their premium pricing does not justify the use of some of these technologies for routine processes,” commented Dr. Dhiman. "Research has found that the industry would be willing to invest more and reap the financial rewards if their data are more reliable and consistent.”

With the myriad of opportunities envisioned in the highly competitive and fragmented gene-expression market, price has always been a sensitive issue with customers. Laboratory automation is likely to help promote a faster approach to the preliminary steps, which involve reagent mixing and sample preparation.

"As these processes require a lot of skilled labor and time, there is an indirect impact on the pricing of the entire gene-expression products,” elaborates Dr. Dhiman. "Therefore, honing the automation can help manufacturing processes to become more cost-effective, thus aiding the consumers by lowering the price.”


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