Finding new indications for drugs using the human interactome and network analysis
Indication Expansion
Indication expansion (drug repurposing / drug repositioning) is a compelling lifecycle management strategy which can provide extended patent protection and market exclusivity, while increasing franchise revenues mid-lifecycle. However, extending indications has been associated with high costs and high risks due to the requirement for additional clinical trials. Applying data-driven approaches to prioritizing indications can mitigate these risks and costs considerably. Network pharmacology is a systematic methodology using a human protein-protein interactome, which prioritizes disease protein networks and drug target networks, based on efficacy and safety insights. The data-driven approach combined with validation of prioritized indications in cell and animal models, reduces costs up to 70% and improves timelines by 10x.
Life Cycle Management
BioXplor was tasked with identifying novel indications for an IL17A inhibitor, Cosentyx, for Novartis. The objective was to identify and prioritize novel indications for further clinical studies in inflammatory diseases, and to incorporate potential signals to explain adverse events. BioXplor analysed the pathogenic pathway of the disease and compared the treatment strategy with competing drug-target pathways in inflammation pathways. BioXplor's team utilized it's biomedical and drug disocvery knowledebase consisting of 250 databases and billions of structured biomedical literature sentences using natural language processing and machine learning models, to prioritize several novel indications based on safety and efficacy, one of which moved into a new clinical trial.
Case Study - Indication Expansion for Cosentyx