The Future of Biomarkers: Where Prevention Will Trump Treatment

Biomarkers—both traditional and digital—will be the essential piece of information in how we diagnose and treat diseases

The changes of identified biological indicators of, for example, gene expression, protein or effector molecule concentrations and physiological activity tracking by digital devices, will open a window into body functions, helping to spot diseases earlier, even before symptoms show up. Armed with vast datasets, the clinician’s fight against maladies will be more personal by aligning their interventions with each individual patient’s biology for quicker success. 

Laboratory automation and new analysis technologies will contribute to all of this. They progressively enter laboratory spaces. Already they are changing the way we work to develop therapies and diagnose diseases. Time remains the most valuable assest in drug development and discovery. Though many new modalities are advancing in company pipelines, most recently in immune-oncology, cell and gene therapies, it still takes 10-15 years on average to bring a drug candidate to market. Anything that helps shorten this timeline can be crucial to getting treatments to patients and to arm companies with strategic advantage.

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Laboratory automation will drive success in the clinic

A key factor in this consideration is laboratory automation. Research forcasts that its global market size will roughly triple to US $16 billion over the next ten years. The anticipated growth will be driven by increased demand for miniaturized assay formats and for integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics in rutine workflows. When adapted to drug development, these merging technologies offer tools and approaches, such as planning  and executing virtual experiments, to simplifying and standardizing data analyses and analytical processes or to reduce biological sample volumes required for readouts honoring 3R principles of replacement, reduction, and refinement. Likewise, the next generation of biomimicry like lab-on-a-chip (LoC) and human organs-on-chips may partially replace animal model research, if findings from these microfluidic devices are translatable to human physiology.

In the future, automated laboratories will rapidly and accurately process specimens without errors. Robotic systems and artificial intelligence will take care of tasks like collecting samples, running tests, and analyzing data. Biomarker testing occurs faster, cheaper, and available to more people, even in remote areas or places with fewer resources. We will have tools to be able to detect diseases sooner and monitor progression and adequate treatment in real time with less invasive methods, such as blood tests, saliva sampling, or wearable devices. 

Once all these developments come together diseases will more often be prevented rather than treated… Imagine that!

Check out my recent stories about how automation is driving new and exciting trends in biomarkers.