Approved Research

Testing the strength of genetic associations of therapeutic drug targets in UK Biobank data

Lay summary

In many diseases, new therapies are urgently needed. Examples include chronic diseases that impact patient lives over many years, such as diseases of the heart, brain and metabolism. It is currently very resource-intensive to develop new therapies: data indicate that it takes on average 10+ years  and $1B+ to take a drug from its early development to the patient. Furthermore, most drug development efforts fail. Published estimates indicate a 2-8% success rate of any clinical development project.

A better understanding of a drug's chances of success would make drug development faster and cheaper. This would ultimately lead to more therapies at a cheaper cost.  One incredibly valuable indicator of success in developing a drug is genetics. Across large groups of individuals, it has been found that each of us have varying risks of having any particular disease. An important contributor of disease risk is our DNA, which is unique to each of us. With today's technology, it is possible to identify which changes in our DNA determine disease risk. Drug developers can use this information to design drugs that mimic the protective DNA effects found in rare individuals, to help larger groups of patients.

Linking genetics and medicine is an active field of research, which depends on the availability of large, high-quality datasets that contain not only genetic, but also clinical data. The UK Biobank has established one of the world's best resources of such data. Our goal is to leverage this unique dataset to better understand how genetics can inform the development of new therapies, ultimately leading to better and cheaper therapies.