Caution when using network partners for target identification in drug discovery.

ABSTRACT: Identifying novel, high-yield drug targets is challenging and often results in a high failure rate. However, recent data indicate that leveraging human genetic evidence to identify and validate these targets significantly increases the likelihood of success in drug development. Two recent papers from Open Targets claimed that around half of US Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs had targets with direct human genetic evidence. By expanding target identification to include protein network partners-molecules in physical contact-the proportion of drug targets with genetic evidence support increased to two-thirds. However, the efficacy of using these network partners for target identification was not formally tested. To address this, we tested the approach on a list of robust positive c

SUBMITTER: Tan D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11850190 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature