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The
recent explosion in biotechnology productivity has made
protein analysis critically important. The statistics
speak for themselves: According to Ernst & Young, in
2005, biotech enjoyed over $60 billion in revenues from
hundreds of marketed products, secured 32 new product
approvals from the FDA, and had more than 300 innovative
products in late-stage clinical trials and thousands
more in development (see Pharma DD July/Aug. 2006
Outlook, “Ernst & Young: Biotech Looks Poised for
Maturity”).
Development
of protein-based therapeutics requires novel analytical
approaches that can provide direct, real-time analysis
of proteins and their reactions in a broad range of
complex media. Methods used for gene analysis are not
necessarily optimal for studying proteins.
Says
Lance Liotta, co-director of the Center for Applied
Proteomics and Molecular Medicine at George Mason
University: “New tools for analyzing proteins, in
particular how proteins interact and transmit
information, is critical for the future of drug
discovery, for the simple reason that all the targets
for the new molecular inhibitors are proteins. The
traditional means of measuring genes and gene
transcripts do not provide any information about the
functional activated state of signal pathway proteins
that are the drug targets of the future.”
It’s
clear that novel tools to better understand the complex
interplay between proteins are poised to become a hot
area of development. In this issue’s “Bench
Notes,” we present two methods for the detailed
characterization of proteins and real-time analysis of
their activity.
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