Omics Sciences in Drug Discovery, Safety, and Pharmacokinetics

Omics sciences study the whole complex of a specific type of biological molecules within an organism, be it DNA (genomics), RNA (transcriptomics) to the entire class of proteins (proteomics), including also the regulatory primary or secondary modifications of DNA sequence or topological organization (epigenomic), and cellular metabolites (metabolomics). The application of these approaches to the study of pharmacology, more specifically to drug discovery and pharmacokinetics, have greatly impacted these fields, leading to important benefits for patients, bringing to life new compounds and preventing the emergence of life-threatening side effects in patients. Recent developments are ushering a new era for the application of omics techniques in pharmacology. In this chapter, we describe state-of-theart technologies based on sequencing or array platforms which proved useful for pharmacogenomics and safety studies. Finally, we provide our perspective on the current challenges and further promising developments in the (multi)omics characterization and data integration toward a better identification and use of drugs in human health.