Molecular pathology in oncology--the AstraZeneca perspective

Growth of the oncology portfolio remains of strategic importance to AstraZeneca, and the adoption of new technologies to allow us to enhance this portfolio is central to this strategy. With the move away from classical hormonal and cytotoxic therapies to the development of more targeted approaches for the treatment of cancer, an understanding of the molecular pathology of the disease state is becoming vital. Our understanding of the pathogenesis of cancer has increased dramatically over the last few decades and with the publication of the human genome and the resultant explosion in the field of genetics and genomics, AstraZeneca is turning its attention to using these new technologies to enhance the oncology R&D platform. In particular, the fields of pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics in relation to oncology have received much attention and this has been mirrored externally both within the pharmaceutical/biotechnology and academic sectors. Future products from the AstraZeneca oncology portfolio will increasingly rely on the use of genetics and genomics for patient identification and stratification, whilst these technologies will also provide a source of novel biomarkers and diagnostics that may allow us to streamline the R&D process and help us to better understand the biological basis of the diseases we are aiming to treat. The AstraZeneca perspective is, however, pragmatic enough to appreciate the practical challenges involved in applying pharmacogenetics and genomics not only for early drug development, but also in the organization of the healthcare infrastructure to undertake timely and complex laboratory investigations. Finally, validation of this approach will require carefully controlled clinical studies.