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1st
EMBL/EMBO Joint Conference 2000 |
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Session
II |
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| From the sequence of our genes to medical utility |
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Peter N. Goodfellow, Senior Vice-President, Discovery,
SmithKline Beecham, UK
Genetics offers the promise of contributing to better medical treatments
by improving drug efficacy and safety. The individual response to
a drug is affected by genetic variation altering the mechanisms
of drug absorption, distribution and metabolism, as well as the
functioning of the target receptors or enzymes. Genetic approaches
will also improve disease classification by defining the underlying
cause of disease. In the short term it may be possible to identify
subgroups of patients who will benefit from a drug as well as those
most likely to suffer an adverse reaction. In the long term, genetics
may be used to identify new targets for therapeutic intervention.
Biography
Peter Goodfellow has worked for many years as a research scientist
specializing in human genetics. His first independent position was
at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London, where he worked
for 13 years studying human gene mapping and the genetics of sex
determination. In 1992, he was elected to the position of Balfour
Professor of Genetics at Cambridge University and he is currently
Senior Vice-President of Discovery at the pharmaceutical company
SmithKline Beecham. Dr. Goodfellow has consulted widely in the biotechnology
industry and was a founder of Hexagen, a genome research company. |
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