Merck's Rosetta stone

Four papers published in Nature Genetics, NatureandPublic Library of Sciences Biology provide a compelling proof of concept for the use of integrative genomic analysis to drive the discovery of genes underlying complex diseases such as obesity and other metabolic disorders. Genomics companies told SciBX that the approach described in these papers had been considered technically unfeasible, but now its application could significantly accelerate marker and target discovery.

Indeed, the integrative approach reported in the papers, which was developed by Merck & Co. Inc. subsidiary Rosetta Inpharmatics LLC, is already shaping the pharma company's drug discovery efforts...