"When you look at a patient's record in a Phase II clinicaltrial, there is a lot more data generated than ever before—clinical lab data,image data and clinical attributes for patients, as well as thousands of dataon glucose levels, blood pressure, MRI tests, etc. We also see 'omics databecoming available—metabolome, epigenome, proteome, etc.—we're literallytalking about billions of data points. If you want to take a single patient andcompare them to all other patients, you have to invest in a huge computinginfrastructure," says Akhtari.
All of these components will amplify Sanofi's translationalresearch efforts, he says.
"NextBio deals with upstream research," he says. "The wholenotion is to take what you learn from your research and apply it to clinicaldevelopment. Researchers need to look for a subpopulation that will benefitmost from a drug, with the least side effects. We see many pharmas introducingthis, mainly because of the efficiencies that it enables. This is how I believemedicine should work."
