Knowledge innovation for personalized oncology.
Despite decades of advancement in molecular medicine and associated improvements in our ability to diagnose and treat various forms of cancer, the gap between scientific knowledge and clinical outcome remains enormous. In particular, while the advent of targeted cancer therapies has promised to revolutionize the nature and success of patient care, a review of current response rates for these drugs provides a sobering reality-check. Clinical statistics reveal that for the majority of cancer types, most patients will fail to achieve clinically significant response to current treatment regimens. Luckily, however, less than a decade after the sequencing of the human genome, the community is now positioned to transition from the pervasive model of “trial and error” medicine, to an evidence-based, knowledge-driven approach.
No longer having to rely on broad definitions of particular cancer types, today we can describe their molecular composition in detail, defining novel molecular subtypes of distinct composition, architecture and drug sensitivity. This knowledge is critical to designing the right therapeutic approach for individual patients and it is here that LIFE Biosystems excels in providing new levels of discovery innovation through the development of novel in silico discovery approaches. By elaborating the knowledge and methods necessary to expedite the community-wide adoption of personalized oncology and support the various stakeholders in this process, we are committed to the goal of positively impacting response rates for anti-cancer drugs.
Given that no single approach can fully decipher the complex biology involved in cancer etiology, progression and therapeutic intervention, we have developed a dedicated in silico discovery environment that combines the best in data and methodologies. By focusing on the relationship between therapeutics and the perturbed human systems in which they partner to effect response, our methods contextualize patient-/omics-derived data against the metrics of personalized human biology. Not only does this position us at the forefront of a new era in knowledge-driven oncology, but it has also allowed us to elaborate an innovative new approach to executive strategy and development support for oncology companies.
Innovation
Our in silico discovery team is focused on developing novel computational approaches geared at understanding system specific drug mode of action and the influence of inter-patient molecular diversity. Focusing these developments on the therapeutic needs of non-responsive cancer patients, we are pursuing three key areas of innovation:
1) Identifying the right cancer for a given drug.
Currently, the pressure to capture the broadest market possible upon initial drug launch remains a key development bias. Clearly, however, the biology of human cancer must take precedence over market considerations, for it is biology which ultimately determines a drugs success or failure. Embracing this important perspective, LIFE is an innovator in systems-based approaches to identifying the right indication for a given drug. Applied to drug candidates, our strategies can identify the cancer population most likely to respond, both at the level of clinical indication and pharmacogenomic backgrounds. Here the implications for optimized clinical trial design are compelling. For existing drugs, the approach can also provide important metrics for planning future development strategies.
2) Identifying the right patient for a cancer drug/trial.
LIFE has developed a number of proprietary approaches to prioritize and predict factors, which if perturbed, may lead to non-responsive disease in cancer patients. As such, these strategies provide a prospective prioritization of genes for functional analyses, facilitating not only biomarker discovery, but also hypothesis-driven clinical trial design.
3) Identifying the right drug(s) for non-responsive cancer patients
LIFE is an innovator in the rational prediction of drug combinations for non-responsive patient populations. Employing our proprietary therapeutic system models to contextualize clinico-molecular information, we can prioritize specific drug combinations and associated theranostic signatures for (pre-)clinical testing. By aligning specific onco-system features with appropriate treatment measures, such theranostic-linked combination therapies hold great promise for rationally redressing intrinsic and emergent non-responsive disease.
Validation of these discovery modes has been achieved through collaborative efforts with world renowned oncologists leading to promising new insights into the molecular promiscuity of key therapeutic molecules and targets. Importantly, we have clearly demonstrated that our system-based approach to clinical and molecular data can successfully promote expeditious new paths in (pre-)clinical investigation, discovery and patient benefit. For companies, the chance of rationally expanding the market potential of existing/developmental drugs based on the dictates of biology provides a new and important approach to the analysis and prioritization of key investment decisions and opportunities. Ultimately, however, it is the promise of new hope for treatment refractory patients that remains our driving focus.
