Application of Genomic Technologies in Clinical Pharmacology Research

Technology is the basis of scientific progress and is an essential component for continued competitiveness in industry. The development of a new drug candidate is a long and expensive process, in which a molecule undergoes several stages of research (both pre-clinical and clinical) before being approved for commercialization. Scientific progress has revolutionized the pharmaceutical industry and reshaped the processes by which new drugs are discovered, investigated, and developed. Currently, the influence of genomic variations in drug metabolism must be better understood to predict an individual´s response to a given treatment. Employing genomics tools, an individual's genetic profile may be obtained and used as the basis for prescription of the best treatment option, thus personalizing medicine. In this review, we discuss how current mainstream genomic technologies used in clinical pharmacology research can accelerate the identification of populations that can benefit the most while reducing adverse events.