title: Practical metabolomics in drug discovery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Metabolomics is increasingly becoming an important field in the pharmaceutical industry to support the discovery and development of therapeutic agents. It allows the comprehensive and simultaneous profiling of hundreds of discrete biologically important molecules, including amino acids, sugars, lipids and exogenous substances from biological fluids and tissues. Metabolomics is the 'omics' field that most represents the interplay of internal biological regulation and external environmental influences on disease, thereby being of particular importance to disease mitigation and management.
  
  
  METHODS
  Technological advances in the experimental work flow, analytical detection strategies and bioinformatics tools have enabled metabolomics studies to become increasingly comprehensive, robust and informative for the understanding of disease, drug action and the development of biomarkers. This review will focus on the practical aspects of metabolomics studies as they have been applied to the study of mammalian biological systems, specifically targeted to the steps of experimental design with regard to sample preparation, sample analysis and data analysis of both polar and non-polar metabolites.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The reader will gain an overview of the field of metabolomics as it applies to drug development and the practical issues involved with experimental design. We will discuss the various methods of sample preparation and analysis as they apply to different classes of metabolites and highlight recent advances in the field that illustrate these methods.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The field of metabolomics is a rapidly expanding discipline that is being applied to various aspects of drug development. The large diversity of metabolites found in nature dictates that different methods be developed for the investigation of different classes of metabolites. As the field of metabolomics continues to mature, it is likely that it will play an increasingly important role in the characterization of disease and the future development of biomarkers to assess drug efficacy and safety.
authors: Eisai, Inc., Biomarkers and Personalized Medicine, 4 Corporate Drive, Andover, MA 01810, USA  +1 978 837 4614 ;  +1 978 837 4863 ;  Keith_Wilcoxen@eisai.com.
authors: Keith M
authors: KM
authors: Wilcoxen
authors: Taisuke
authors: T
authors: Uehara
authors: Khin Than
authors: KT
authors: Myint
authors: Yoshiaki
authors: Y
authors: Sato
authors: Yoshiya
authors: Y
authors: Oda