How Bioinformatics Can Support Your Clinical Trial

Clinical trials generate vast quantities of data in each phase, which inform the trial’s future direction or ultimate success. However, sifting through the data obtained and reconciling different data types can be time consuming. Also, it may be difficult to identify key results from the data. At Fios Genomics, we can address these problems through bioinformatic analysis of your clinical trial data at each trial phase.

Using Bioinformatics to Assess Toxicity

In the early phases of trialling a therapeutic agent it is important to determine whether there are any associated harmful or off target effects. Assessing the association of gene expression profiles of individual organs with various clinical measures can identify hallmark biomarkers of toxicity and adverse effects. Bioinformaticians may also use metabolomic and proteomic data in combination with genomic data to determine a more comprehensive picture of the pharmacokinetic profile of a drug in the body. The integration of multiple data types can help to validate observations from a single data type.  This is one of the most beneficial features of bioinformatic analysis.

Using Bioinformatics to Assess Efficacy

In the later phases of clinical trials, where it is important to determine the efficacy of a treatment and compare the new treatment with the standard treatment, we can use bioinformatic analysis to distinguish biomarkers which are predictive of treatment efficacy. Furthermore, bioinformatics can be used to identify groups of patients, including those with certain disease indications or those who express, or lack expression of, certain signature genes or gene mutations, who respond differently to the trial therapeutic. This can inform the groups of patients who will benefit most from the drug, and identify groups of patients who should not use the drug if it is otherwise successful in the trials.

Our Experience Analysing Clinical Trial Data

At Fios Genomics, we have extensive experience analysing clinical trial data, particularly in supporting the development of new cancer treatments. Through the various clinical trial projects we have undertaken, we have defined pharmacokinetic profiles of novel therapeutics to determine optimal dosing, assessed the efficacy of new drug combinations compared to standard therapeutics and identified biomarkers of treatment response to help guide treatment decisions. To learn more about our bioinformatics services and how we can best support you,  please contact us. We are always happy to advise on the most suitable bioinformatics analyses for each research project.

See also:

The Clinical Trial Diversity Problem

Bias in Randomised Trials

Are you Making the Most of Your Drug Development Data?

Bioinformatics and the Pharmaceutical Industry