Following the decoding of the human genome, the pharma industry should harness the power of cloud computing to tackle the large amounts of data generated by the development of cancer drugs, says GlobalData’s healthcare industry dynamics analyst, Adam Dion.
Arguably, two of the most noteworthy advances in medicine and technology in the past decade have been genomics research and cloud computing. Until now, these two developments have been on separate pathways, each having little to do with the other. But today, medical research institutions are collaborating with large software and hardware vendors to use cloud computing to tackle some of the most challenging issues – in particular, cancer treatment.
Genomic studies and DNA sequencing are massive computational challenges. These clinical analysis techniques require extremely high levels of data throughput in the form of powerful storage and computing platforms. For instance, the first genome sequence took up about 750 gigabytes of data that had to be analysed, backed up and archived for long-term storage. Today, scientists and researchers engaged in genome studies often work with calculations so complex that it could take years for individual computers to complete them. However, these types of studies, in which hundreds of human genomes are sequenced, are now becoming feasible thanks to cloud computing.