Approved Research

Use of UK Biobank data to support drug discovery and development

Lay summary

The process of drug development is fraught with many pitfalls that lead to a high attrition rate throughout all stages of this pipeline. Large scale population data, epitomised by the UK Biobank, offers the ability to provide Human data evidence that can support questions asked at multiple stages of the drug development pipeline. We aim to identify and validate new drug targets for diseases within the research interest of Orion using established approaches in genomics. Furthermore, we aim to use the depth of data available within the UK biobank (including molecular and digital biomarkers, imaging, and electronic health records) to gain insights into the underlying disease biology. This will help Orion deliver on the un-met clinical needs of the patients.

We plan to use the de-identified data to investigate a four main questions. 1) genomic evidence for the target within the disorder of interest, involvement with alternative indications, and involvement in potential safety related traits. 2) The role of molecular and digital biomarkers in identifying patients, or sub-populations of patients. 3) The ability of longitudinal electronic health record data to inform on endotypes, natural history and burden of the disorders of interest. 4) The use of prescription medication data for better understanding of treatment patterns and to identify potential differences in patients related to metabolism and effect of drugs.