Bioinformatics:The effects on the cost of drug discovery

The pharmaceutical industry has been a major respected industry player since becoming organized in the 19 century churning out life saving drugs such as penicillin. Since then many breakthroughs have taken place such as the making of vaccines. So in essence this sector has been associated with saving lives and thus has been held in high esteem. But now with the high cost of drug discovery, rising costs to the consumers, the product recalls being done and adverse side effects, all this topped with more awareness and education on the part of the consumers, the industry image has been battered. Thus it is imperative that the sector finds ways of reducing the costs of drug discovery as well as the time it takes to get the medicine from the laboratory to the patient and at the same time producing drugs which are target specific and with minimal side effects. Bioinformatics is one of the tools the industry has recently engaged to aid in the drug discovery process as well as to cut costs and the timelines and indeed it was time that the industry caught on with information technology.

Galle Medical Journal, Vol 18: No. 1, March 2013:Page 44-50

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/gmj.v18i1.5511