BASEL, Switzerland—Based in part on a burgeoning interest in using combinations of existing drugs to fight disease stemming from the largely successful HIV/AIDS model, AstraZeneca is investing oncology dollars (or Swiss Francs) in the Genedata software platform for sorting out the effects of various drug combinations. The two companies will continue to evaluate the possibilities of such combinations which are increasingly used in pre-clinical research, producing large volumes of data with upwards of 200 combinations per experiment. Genedata Screener®, which has been proven to work as an easy and efficient platform for analyzing compound screening, has been advanced through the AstraZeneca collaboration as a means of automating and standardizing the analysis of compound combination experiments.
"With Genedata, we are able to extract the highest value possible from our compound combination experiments," noted Dr. Eric Tang, associate principle scientist at AstraZeneca. "Typically, compound combination experiments compare 50 or more compounds across a number of cell lines in a single study, resulting in the analysis of hundreds of 384/1536 well plates. Genedata Screener can handle these large data sets and enable us to generate and compare results for the same compound combinations in different cell lines, and review alternative analysis for the same data sets. Moreover, Screener helps standardize data analysis, giving us more quality time to conduct detailed analysis," continued Dr. Tang.
Combination therapies—which involve the simultaneous use of a variety of drugs to treat a range of diseases from infections to cancer—have gained importance as potential cures. And, compound combination experiments are a resurging trend in lead optimization and target validation. Data sets from these experiments tend to be large, as the number of measurements multiplies exponentially with the number of compounds to be compared.
The Genedata software effectively addresses the data analysis challenges of these large data sets by enabling researchers to go from raw data to results in less than 30 minutes. A typical study might involve 20 compounds, 20 cell lines and five different dosage levels. For large studies the technology eliminates time-consuming manual data processing and allows interactive inspection of raw data and checking the quality of normalized values. The software also supports in-depth intermediate and final review of results using combination-specific displays such as concentration matrices and isobolograms which demonstrate which combinations have the same effect. Both mono-therapeutic and combination dose-response curves are automatically fit for quick and robust results.
"We see a huge demand for software that efficiently analyzes compound combination experiments in novel drug discovery," said Dr. Othmar Pfannes, CEO of Genedata. Pfannes notes that drug combinations are nothing new, but that collaborations such as the one between Genedata and AstraZeneca are part of a new trend to “industrialize the process. Our successful collaboration with AstraZeneca, a leader in combination therapies, helps us to further advance Genedata Screener as the platform of choice for the efficient analysis of compound combination experiments," he states.
Genedata’s mission is to transform data into intelligence with a portfolio of advanced software solutions, which make research data accessible and understandable and research processes more efficient. These solutions are used worldwide by leading pharmaceutical, industrial, and agricultural biotechnology companies as well as academic research organizations. Genedata innovations enable scientific discovery that fights disease and improves health and quality of life worldwide. Founded in 1997, Genedata is headquartered in Switzerland, and has offices in Germany, Japan and the U.S
