Molecular Profiling in Drug Development: Paving a Way Forward

As researchers learn more about tumor biology and the molecular mechanisms involved in tumorigenesis, metastasis, and tumor evolution, clinical trials are growing more complex and patient selection for clinical trials is becoming more specific. Rather than exploit certain phenotypic characteristics of tumor cells (e.g., rapid cell division and uncontrolled cell growth), pharmaceuticals targeting the genotypic causes of tumorigenesis are emerging. The sequencing of the human genome, advances in chemical techniques, and increased efficiency in drug target identification have changed the way drugs are developed. Now, more precise drugs targeting specific mutations within individual genes are being used to treat narrow patient populations harboring these specific driver mutations, often with greater efficacy and lower toxicity than traditional chemotherapeutic agents. This precision in drug development relies not only on the ability to design exquisitely specific pharmaceuticals but also to identify (with the same level of precision) the patients who are most likely to respond to those therapies. Robust screening techniques and adequate molecular oncology education are required to match the appropriate patient to precision therapies, and these same screening techniques provide the data necessary to advance to the next generation of drug development.