Accelerated Path to Cures provides a transformative perspective on the power of combining advanced computational technologies, modeling, bioinformatics and machine learning approaches with nonclinical and clinical experimentation to accelerate drug development. This book discusses the application of advanced modeling technologies, from target identification and validation to nonclinical studies in animals to Phase 1-3 human clinical trials and post-approval monitoring, as alternative models of drug development. As a case of successful integration of computational modeling and drug development, we discuss the development of oral small molecule therapeutics for inflammatory bowel disease, from the application of docking studies to screening new chemical entities to the development of next-generation in silico human clinical trials from large-scale clinical data. Additionally, this book illustrates how modeling techniques, machine learning, and informatics can be utilized effectively at each stage of drug development to advance the progress towards predictive, preventive, personalized, precision medicine, and thus provide a successful framework for Path to Cures.
Dr. Josep Bassaganya-Riera is a serial entrepreneur and innovator who has served as the Director of the Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory (NIMML) at the Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech since 2002. The NIMML tackles unsolved challenges in complex human diseases with unmet clinical needs. His research has received over $55 million in competitive R&D funding to combine advanced computational technologies with preclinical and clinical experimentation. The NIMML translates novel scientific discoveries into commercial applications that address unmet patient or consumer needs. Dr. Bassaganya-Riera has published over 150 peer-reviewed publications in reputable biomedical journals, founded 3 successful biotech companies (Pervida, Biotherapeutics and Landos Biopharma), and was recently named 2017 Innovator of the Year by the
Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council. Dr. Bassaganya-Riera, and his companies have been active members of a statewide group that supports the planning behind the Governor’s 2015 Virginia Bioscience Initiative. This initiative calls for Virginia to be in the top three pharmaceutical regions by 2023. Dr. Bassaganya-Riera was a featured presenter at the Governor’s Forum on Bio and Big Data.
