The challenge of pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics

The Human Genome Project along with a number of rival commercial and academic efforts such as that of Celera Genomics looks set to provide a comprehensive map and sequence of the human genome within the next two to three years. The development of techniques in genetic engineering has given us the ability to identify and isolate many genes that are important to the understanding of disease. The pharmaceutical industry is being flooded with information as it enters a period both of prodigious complexity and unprecedented opportunity. The challenge for the industry will be in selecting the best therapeutic targets among the huge number that present themselves. The future of drug development may well lie in the efficient identification of these targets that are most receptive to therapeutic attack.