Chemogenomics: drug discovery's panacea?

Chemogenomics aims towards the systematic identification of small molecules that interact with the products of the genome and modulate their biological function. This Opinion article summarizes the different knowledge-based chemogenomics strategies that are followed and outlines the challenges and opportunities that will impact drug discovery. Chemogenomics aims towards the systematic identification of small molecules that interact with the products of the genome and modulate their biological function. While historically the approach is based on efforts that systematically explore target gene families like kinases, today additional knowledge-based systematization principles are followed within early drug discovery projects which aim to biologically validate the targets and to identify starting points for chemical lead optimization. While the expectations of chemogenomics are very high, the reality of drug discovery is quite sobering with very high project attrition rates. This article summarizes the different knowledge-based chemogenomics strategies that are followed and outlines the challenges and potential opportunities that will impact drug discovery.