During the venture capital boom of the late '90s, many pharmaceutical companies poured cash into genomic start-up companies in hopes of rapid development of therapeutic agents to combat genetic disease. These companies developed breakthrough technologies to sequence vast amounts of DNA, culminating in the complete sequence of the human genome. The problem is, now that drug companies have all this information, where is the pay off?

The answer is not appealing for companies looking for a fast return on their investment. Vast amounts of genomic data already produced must be sifted through and analyzed, which is creating a bottleneck in potential therapeutic agents, thereby lowering the efficiency of drug discovery. Venture capitalists are not seeing their promised short-term returns. Consequently, funding for new genomic companies has dried up.

Proteomics seeks to sidestep this lengthy process. Instead of looking at the gene parent, researchers now are zeroing in on the end product, the protein itself. This skips over the complicated intermediate stages in protein translation, and allows companies to streamline the drug development process by eliminating irrelevant drug targets. By understanding protein function, researchers will be able to develop intricate predictive models and, in turn, reduce the amount of funding necessary for research and development.

Due to the complexity of protein folding and interactions, proteomics demands some of the most advanced technology in the world. Protein chip research, like DNA chip research, has advanced rapidly. Using protein chips, researchers have already discovered biomarkers for ovarian cancer, demonstrating the effectiveness of this fledgling technology.

The power of supercomputers is also being spurned by proteomic research. For example, Michael Dell of Dell Computer recently launched a supercomputer facility at the University of Buffalo capable of operating at 5.7 trillion floating-point operations per second ("teraflops"). And, before the end of the year, Los Alamos National Laboratory is expected to have a supercomputer operating at 30 teraflops.

The potential of proteomics in drug discovery is driving biotech investment. During the next five years, the proteomic-driven pharmaceutical market is expected to grow fivefold and information technology supporting the life sciences industry will eclipse $40 billion.

Submitted by Erik Malinowski, a member of Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps LLP's Business Practice Group in the firm's Carmel Valley/Del Mar office. He can be reached at emalinowski@luce.com or at (858) 720-6327.