LABORATORY INFORMATICS
to control more complex pharmaceutical data John Harman, senior product manager, Thermo Fisher Scientific explains how implementing a cloud informatics platform can help scientists make better use of pharmaceutical data
Cloud-based informatics: a scalable solution
Modern drug discovery and development workflows incorporate a growing range of automated, high-throughput technologies that can generate data on a truly impressive scale. Innovation in next-generation sequencing, mass spectrometry and synthetic biology are also helping to accelerate the delivery of personalised treatments by allowing scientists to probe human diseases in unprecedented levels of detail. However, while these advanced technologies are unlocking a wealth of therapeutic opportunities, the growing volume and complexity of the data produced poses significant challenges to the pharmaceutical industry, in terms of information management. Here, we look at the challenge of
controlling pharmaceutical data, and how cloud-based laboratory informatics platforms are providing businesses with an extensible solution.
The challenge of controlling multi-dimensional pharmaceutical data The pharmaceutical landscape has changed considerably over the past two decades. Where once much of the drug discovery and development pipeline was conducted in-house, today, outsourcing and collaboration have become increasingly popular approaches. As such, the data produced by modern drug development strategies must often be securely shared and accessed by teams across the world. With global outsourcing more widespread and drug development
18 Scientific Computing World June/July 2019
increasingly international in nature, regulatory bodies are putting emphasis on the accuracy, completeness and consistency of pharmaceutical data. Given this growing regulatory focus, the platforms used for data management should not only make information securely accessible by those who need it, they must also support full accountability and traceability of actions across the whole pipeline. However, for large numbers of pharmaceutical companies, the reality of controlling data is far from this ideal. While many laboratories have transitioned from the paper-based workflows of the past to digital solutions, such as electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs) and laboratory information management systems (LIMS), these tools are not always implemented in the most joined-up manner. Often, separate digital tools end up being employed by separate teams, departments or facilities, with little consideration as to how they will support collaborative working. So, rather than bringing teams together to support efficient working practices, these fragmented informatics platforms can create data silos that effectively lock data in specific platforms. This problem can have serious
implications for drug development pipelines, making it more challenging to share data between people and reducing operational efficiency. Using separate systems can foster inconsistencies between the way teams organise their data, requiring information to be standardised before it can be shared. Furthermore, these poorly integrated systems do not provide decision-makers with a comprehensive overview of the whole pharmaceutical pipeline, potentially
resulting in decisions that aren’t based on up-to-date insight. What’s more, as datasets grow larger and the volume of information handled by drug developers increases, these issues become more acute. Given the challenges associated with
controlling large amounts of complex data using fragmented data management systems, pharmaceutical companies require more extensible solutions. For many, the answer is cloud-based laboratory informatics platforms.
Making data-sharing simple and convenient Cloud-based laboratory informatics platforms allow pharmaceutical companies to create an integrated digital ecosystem for all of their data. By connecting instruments, workflows and people through a single system, these platforms make data from across the pipeline securely accessible and searchable. Moreover, because these platforms are housed in the cloud, they are not restricted by the capacity of in-house IT infrastructure, and offer businesses the scalability and flexibility they need to accommodate the growing volume and complexity of multi- dimensional pharmaceutical data. One of the biggest advantages of
cloud-based platforms is the way in which they make securely sharing data simple and convenient. By organising information centrally, rather than in multiple disparate systems, cloud- based platforms eliminate the friction associated with bringing together datasets from multiple sources. And because all authorised individuals can access this information through the cloud using a single software platform,
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