It currently cost over $1 billion and 12 years to bring a drug to market. There is a high attrition rate in drug development that typically exceeds 90 percent. The traditional preclinical approach of using animal models have failed to adequately predict pharmacologic responses in clinical trials. Also, molecular drug targeting and disease mechanism requires prior knowledge of the disease. In contrast, personalized medicine has some advantages when applied to drug discovery. In the context of drug discovery, personalized medicine targets a narrowly defined group of patients that can be represented by a measurable and functional cellular phenotype. Personalized medicine approaches in drug discovery are well-suited for rare genetic diseases, immunological diseases and cancer. The following table highlights the differences between traditional drug targeting approaches and personalized medicine approaches.

Traditional Approach

 

• Start with small animal model.

 

• Expensive cost.

 

• Animal testing carries negative public relations.

 

• Mice models frequently fail to predict clinical efficacy and safety.

 

• Small animal not predictive of large animal pharmacology.

 

• Drug targeting approaches require knowledge of disease mechanism and drug target.

 

• Iterative adjustments in animal modeling is costly and laborious. 

Personalized Medicine

 

• Start with a patient and create a cell model.

 

• Less expensive.

 

• Carries no negative public sentiment.

 

• More predictive of clinical outcomes because cell and patient share same phenotype.

 

• Can be adapted to any animal species.

 

• Requires little to no prior knowledge of disease mechanism or drug target.

 

• Faster iterative process for human cell modeling.