The Hindu : `Bioinformatics will help produce cheaper drugs'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 21, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

`Bioinformatics will help produce cheaper drugs'

By A. A. Michael Raj

COIMBATORE, MARCH 20. Pharmaceutical companies that use the latest methods in bioinformatics would be able to produce newer drugs at much cheaper rates, the Chair - Bioinformatics, Macquarie University Biotechnology Research Institute, Australia, Shoba Ranganathan, said here recently.

Dr. Ranganathan, who was in Coimbatore to participate in an international workshop on bioinformatics organised by Karpagam Arts and Science College, told The Hindu that drug development was costly, and required enormous investment in technology and skilled human resource.

Countries that were leaders in drug research were willing to invest sizable funds in research and development.

There were nations that considered research "an object of national pride" and were very liberal when it came to budgets and resources.

In the past, research work supported by pharmaceutical companies focused mainly on identifying chemical molecules that could form the basis of various drugs.

However, in recent years, scientists had found that short chains of biochemical molecules were quite effective in passing through membranes, and were absorbed much more effectively than chemical drugs.

"Detailed structural modelling and techniques of biotechnology and genetic engineering can make computer-aided drug design possible. Nowadays we have much better data and faster computers to carry out such work," she noted.

Most of the research in developing a new drug was concentrated on identifying the molecule that gave the medicine its efficacy.

When such a molecule was identified, scientists could study its structure and properties, and replicate the molecule so that it could form the active ingredient in a tablet, capsule, powder or solution.

"Bioinformatics can direct experimental research along faster tracks, even while narrowing down the search," she said. Even chemical molecules could be modified and the resulting material studied in order to predict physical properties, including the presence or absence of toxicity.

Biological systems were generally robust and there were feedback mechanisms that were capable of dealing with changes in the system. "Bioinformatics involves the study of cellular compartments, chemical molecules, ions and biological molecules. All of them are finely inter-related and it is a fine balance that keeps us healthy. The complex human system is a miracle of evolution," Dr. Ranganathan said.

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