Why Unified Software and Data Flows Are the Future of Biologics Discovery
The article discusses how biologics are revolutionizing disease treatment with numerous recent drug approvals across diverse modalities and conditions, highlighting that the future of biologics discovery lies in unifying software tools and data flows to manage complex, voluminous data and enhance research workflows through integrated, seamless analysis and visualization platforms.
Biologics are transforming disease treatment, influencing company investments, and impacting patients’ lives. In the previous year, nearly half of the 37 new drugs approved by the U.S. Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) were biologics, with the U.S. Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) approving a dozen more. These approvals cover various modalities and a wide range of conditions, including rare and hard-to-treat diseases. In 2022, the approvals included:
- 5 protein drugs (for diabetes, kidney and liver disease, lipid-buildup disease, and skin conditions)
- 11 antibodies (for multiple sclerosis, lymphoma, diabetes, cancer, psoriasis, eye disease, and blood disorders)
- 1 antibody-drug conjugate (for ovarian cancer)
- 1 small interfering RNA therapeutic (for polyneuropathy)
- 12 blood products, gene therapies, and vaccines (for cancer, blood disease, neurologic dysfunction, and infection)
Biology Labs Embrace Change
The progress in biologics research and development (R&D) is the result of years of work uncovering disease processes, developing software for sequence, structure, and experimental data analysis, and adopting new collaborative approaches. Biology labs have advanced by embracing new technologies, such as:
- Sequencing platforms, image detectors, and molecular techniques
- Specialized bioinformatics, proteomics, and molecular biology tools
- Cloud computing for analyzing large volumes of data
The next major advancement is integrating these software tools to enable seamless data flow throughout the discovery workflow.
The Next Great Change: Uniting Tools and Data
Biologics R&D is complex, involving intricate biological systems, analysis workflows, data compute and storage needs, and regulatory requirements. This generates vast amounts of complex data that researchers must analyze to make informed decisions.
Rich data visualization is essential for understanding and validating research. However, researchers need integrated access to data, not isolated silos. They require the ability to interrogate relationships between data points throughout the discovery process, enabling quick, collaborative research progress. Closing the gaps between software tools and data is crucial for accelerating innovation and making better research decisions.
Discovery Through Tightly Integrated Software
Biologics R&D teams benefit when research tools are seamlessly connected. Beyond visualizing data, integrated platforms allow researchers to branch research questions, register and track process changes, and initiate new tests or analyses from a central hub. This approach is likened to a “Google maps” for science, helping researchers navigate their work efficiently. Dotmatics supports this by integrating tools such as SnapGene, Geneious Prime and Geneious Biologics, and Protein Metrics on a flexible scientific R&D platform with experiment and data management, inventory and registration systems, and collaboration and reporting tools.
FAIR Data is a Discovery Accelerator
Integrating R&D instruments and software is only part of the solution; the data produced must also be linked for maximum value. Creating a centralized data repository involves standardizing formats, managing large data volumes, setting permission controls, and enabling backend data exchange. All data must be findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR).
Dotmatics provides an enterprise R&D data platform and scientifically-aware data management tools to help biologics teams transform data into knowledge and ensure discoveries are not missed. Users can search large datasets, drill into specific results, collate data sets, and perform analyses using specialty tools like GraphPad Prism.
Unified Data Flow Example Scenarios
Onboarding and Empowering New Antibody Team Members
A new researcher joining an antibody discovery team can access all historical R&D data if it is preserved in a centralized FAIR data repository. They can review previous work, search for registered antibodies, explore associated data, and view production and assay results. This access allows them to overlay assay data with sequence data and annotations, perform alignments, and quickly get up to speed, avoiding redundant efforts and focusing on the best candidates. The researcher can also re-analyze data as new insights emerge.
Making Data-Driven Biologics Program Decisions
A program director deciding which disease target to pursue can benefit from integrated data. Instead of manually collecting and processing data, they can view relevant information in reports and dashboards, collate data across experiments, perform bulk analyses, and visualize results in publication-quality graphs. This streamlines decision-making and uncovers promising program paths more efficiently.
Dotmatics Biology Solution
A centralized research platform provides quick access to the software tools and data needed to accelerate biologics discovery. With all team members on the same platform, teams can:
- Flow data between specialty research tools
- Build on each other’s knowledge
- Streamline workflows and lab requests
- Make data-driven decisions at every step
The Dotmatics Biology Solution supports drug discovery across various biologic therapeutic modalities by uniting tools for cloning, vector design, protein production, and assay screening with visualization and analysis tools for informed decision-making.
References
- 1.Halford, B. 37 new drugs achieved FDA approval in 2022. Chemical & Engineering News. January 21, 2023.
- 2.U.S. Food & Drug Administration. Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Advancing Health Through Innovation: New Drug Therapy Approval 2022. (Accessed February 2, 2023).
- 3.U.S. Food & Drug Administration. Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. 2022 Biological License Application Approvals. (Accessed February 2, 2023).
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