TIBCO Spotfire Helps Organon Bridge the Data Gap Between Basic Research and Clinical Trials

Pharmaceutical leader deploys TIBCO Spotfire enterprise

analytics platform across its drug discovery organization

to catalyze communication and collaboration among

scientists.

T I B C O S p o t f i r e H e l p s O r g a n o n B r i d g e t h e D a t a G a p B e t w e e n B a s i c R e s e a r c h a n d C l i n i c a l T r i a l s 2

Challenges:• Criticalgapbetweenavailabledataandtheabilitytoanalyzeit.

• Dataoverloadfrommultipledatabaseswasslowingdecisionmakingandcreatingabottleneck.

•Neededanapplicationthatcouldcorrelatedatawithinasingleapplication.

•Inefficientdatasharingbetweenscientists.

Foundedin1923,Organonisarenownedglobalbiopharmaceuticalcompanycommitted

toimprovingthehealthandqualityofhumanlife.Throughacombinationofindependent

growthandbusinesspartnerships,Organonstrivestobecomeorremainoneofthe

leadingpharmaceuticalcompaniesineachofitscoretherapeuticfields:gynecology,

fertility,neuroscienceandanesthesia,althoughresearchisalsoconductedinimmunology

andoncology.OrganonisthehumanhealthcarebusinessunitofAkzoNobel.

Pharmaceuticalcompaniesinvesttremendousamountsofresourcestobringtoday’s

drugstomarketduetotheincreasedcomplexityindrugdevelopment.Theneedforhigh

qualityproductstoreachthemarketfasterputsastrainonresearchanddevelopment

teams–whilecostsaregoingup,outputisgoingdown,oftenduetolatestageattrition.

In2004,inrecognitionoftheneedtomodernizethedrugdevelopmentprocesstomake

productdevelopmentmorepredictableandefficient,theFederalDrugAdministration

(FDA)introducedtheCriticalPathInitiative.

TheCriticalPathInitiativeprovidespharmaceuticalcompanieswithaframeworkto

acceleratethedevelopmentofsafeandeffectivemedicalproductsandbringthem

tomarketmorequickly.Itrecommendsthatcompaniesreevaluatetheirconventional

businessprocessesandleveragetheirinformationtechnology(IT)infrastructurestobetter

utilizethebusiness-criticalinformationcontainedinITsystems.

ChallengesOrganonhasembracedtheCriticalPathInitiative,butlikeallpharmascomprising

disparateunitsofscientists,thecompanyfoundthatacriticalgapexistedbetweenthe

dataavailabletoitschemists,biologists,cliniciansandstatisticiansandtheirabilityto

analyzeiteasily.

Translationalsciences–aconceptthatisveryimportantinallpharmacompanies–isat

theheartoftheOrganonR&DactivitieswiththeobjectiveofreachingProofofConcept

(PoC)fasterandtomoreaccuratelypredictdrugeffectsinhumans.Translationalsciences

promisestodeliverrealbenefittothepharmaindustry,reducingattritionandaffording

highquality,efficaciousmedicines.Thisrequiresamultichanneldialogueamong

scientiststhroughoutthedrugdiscoveryprocesstocreateabetterlinkbetweenclinical

developmentandbasicresearch.

Solutions:• TIBCOSpotfireenterpriseanalyticsplatformprovidesscalabilitytohandleimmensedatasets.

• Dataintegrationcapabilitieseasilyaccessmultipledatabasesandworkwithdisparatesoftwaretools.

• Guidedworkflowsstreamlineanalyticalprocesses.

Results:• Spotfiresoftwarereducestimespentondataretrievalandanalysis.

• Homogenousinterfaceandinteractivevisualizationsimprovequalityandcomplexityofanalysis.

• Scientistscannowefficientlyanalyzeandsharedatainvariousdisciplinessocrucialinthedrugdiscoveryprocess.

T I B C O S p o t f i r e H e l p s O r g a n o n B r i d g e t h e D a t a G a p B e t w e e n B a s i c R e s e a r c h a n d C l i n i c a l T r i a l s 3

Dataandknowledgesharingthroughtheuseofuser-friendlyinformaticssystemsis

fundamentaltothesuccessoftranslationalresearch.Butwithenormousvolumesofdata

frommultiplesourcesandperspectives,Organonwaschallengedtofindawaytouseits

verticalapplicationstoprovideitsscientistswithmoretargeteddatawithagoalofmore

quicklyidentifyingnewtargets.

Whileanalysistoolsareubiquitousatallphases,Organon’sresearchteamswereoften

compelledtomakekeydecisionsbasedonlimitedanalysisandMicrosoftExcelreports

thatreflecteddiscreteislandsofinformation.Iftheycouldfindawaytointegrate

disparatetypesofdata,asktherightquestionsofthedataandthencatalyzetheresults,

Organondecisionmakerscouldgaintheinsightsneededtomakebetter-informed

decisionsandmorequickly.

SolutionsOrganonhasbeenusingtheSpotfirevisual,interactiveanalysissolutionforfouryearsin

itsdiscoveryresearchorganization,intheareasofchemistrytooptimizedrugcandidates,

biologyfortargetandbiomarkerdiscoveryandtranslationalmedicine.Spotfireenterprise

analyticshasbecomeanimportantdataanalysisapplicationatthecompany.Inaddition

tobeingrelativelyeasytolearnwithitshighlyinteractivevisualizations,Organon

determinedthatSpotfireenterpriseanalyticsexcelsatanalyzinglargevolumesofdata

frommultiplesourceswithinasinglevisualizationenvironment.What’smore,Spotfire

softwarecanintegratewithawidevarietyofsoftwareusedindrugdiscovery.

Forexample,intoxicogenomicsnewcompoundsinthedrugdiscoverypipelinearetested

forpossiblesideeffects.Theenormousamountofdatagenerated–thousandsofgenes,

manycompounds,differentdosagesandtimepoints–isstoredinlargedatabases.It

isessentialtoquicklyidentifygenesthatplayaroleintoxicity.WithSpotfireenterprise

analytics,Organoncanquicklypinpointwhichgenesare(de)activatedbywhichclassof

compounds.Thishelpstodiscerntoxiccompoundsfromnon-toxiccompounds.

Inearly2006,OrganonlicensedSpotfiresoftwareforglobaldeploymentacrossits

discoveryresearchorganization,mostimportantlyintranslationalscience,toconnect

developmentandresearchaspartofagoalthatmirrorstheCriticalPathInitiative.

Organonisusingthesoftwaretocatalyzecommunicationandcollaborationbetween

scientistsindifferentstagesofthediscoveryprocess,aimingtoacceleratethe

progressionofhighqualitycompoundsfromthediscoveryresearchphasethroughto

“Spotfire helps Organon

achieve its ultimate goal…

to enable users to turn

data into information and

understanding, allowing them

to take the steps necessary to

bringing a new drug to market

faster and more efficiently.”

JacobdeVliegCIOR&D

T I B C O S p o t f i r e H e l p s O r g a n o n B r i d g e t h e D a t a G a p B e t w e e n B a s i c R e s e a r c h a n d C l i n i c a l T r i a l s 4

clinicaldevelopment.“TheglobalrolloutofSpotfiresupportstheintroductionofanew

mindset,basedondatasharingandanintegrateddrugdesignanddiscoveryapproach,”

saysJacobdeVlieg,headoftheMolecularDesignandInformaticsDepartmentat

Organon.

SpotfireenterpriseanalyticsallowsOrganontolinkupverydifferentdatasources,allowing

themtobringcomplexdatatogetherwhicharenormallyverydisparate,forexample,

combiningdatastoredinclinicaltrialmanagementsystemswithdatathathasbeen

observedintheleadfindingprocess.Spotfiresoftwareenablesscientiststobringrelevant

datatogetherandcatalyzeaculturethatenablespeoplefromclinicaldevelopmentand

basicresearchtolookatthesametypeofdataandbridgethegapbetweendifferent

areas.

“Spotfire’sanalyticcapabilitiesintroduceanewwayforourresearcherstoexchangeand

analyzecomplexdataacrosstheR&Dorganization,”observesdeVlieg.“Thesoftware

providesaninteractive,analyticalenvironmentthatsupportsanewapproachtointegrated

drugdesignanddiscovery–optimizingearlydrugcandidatesandleadingtoareduction

inlate-stagefailures.”

Thedifferentdatasourcesdeliverenormousamountsofdata.Forexample,inonestep

ascientistcouldperform60,000experimentsinmicroarraystoidentifywhatisreally

useful.Organoncouldhavecreatedabigdatawarehousetostoreallthedatathatmay

ormaynotberelevant,butthatwouldbetimeconsumingandnotverypragmatic.Sothe

companysawinSpotfiresoftwareonetoolthatcouldenableitsscientiststohorizontally

integratedatafromanumberofareastoseewhatwasrelevantfromtheoutset,without

havingcomplexITstructuresinplacethatwouldtakeyearstobuildatenormouscostfor

dubiousreturn.

SpotfireenterpriseanalyticsenablesOrganonscientiststogatherandintegrate

informationfromthesemultiplesourcesviaadvanceddatabasequerycapabilities,then

analyzeandvisualizetheexpressiondata.Infact,Spotfireenterpriseanalyticshastaken

theplaceofsixorsevendifferenttypesoftoolsrunninginthecompanythatweregreatfor

specificareas,butlackedSpotfiresoftware’sabilitytointegrateallofthedata.“Deploying

atoollikeSpotfireinsuchanewareaastranslationalmedicineisanenormouschallenge,”

saysdeVlieg.“Allthesedisciplineshaveenormousvaluetotheprocess–Spotfireenables

youtobringthattogether.”

“The global rollout of Spotfire

supports the introduction of a

new mindset, based on data

sharing and an integrated

drug design and discovery

approach.”

JacobdeVlieg

CIOR&D

T I B C O S p o t f i r e H e l p s O r g a n o n B r i d g e t h e D a t a G a p B e t w e e n B a s i c R e s e a r c h a n d C l i n i c a l T r i a l s 5

Organonleveragedguidesthathadbeencreatedinotherindustriesthatalsoneededto

analyzeheterogeneousdatabecausetheunderlyingprinciplesaresimilar.Thisenabled

thecompanytoimplementbestpracticesfromthebeginningforfasterimplementation.

Moreover,havingtheguidesinplacemeantthescientistscouldconcentrateonthe

biologicalquestionstheywantedtoanswerinsteadofhavingtodeveloptheunderlying

ITstructure.

Spotfireenterpriseanalyticshasgonefrombeingthedomainofexpertuserstoresiding

onthedesktopofmostscientistsatOrganon,manyofwhomhadbeenusingExcel

becauseofitsabilitytocommunicatewithdifferentdatasourcesandbecauseitfeatures

aninterfacethatcanbeunderstoodbymanydifferenttypesofscientists.

Spotfiresoftware’strainingresourcesanduserfriendlinesswerekeyfactorsinthe

expandeddeploymentatOrganon.deVliegnotesthattheywantedtostimulatepeople

whoarenotnormallydoingthistypeofcomplexanalysis.“WithSpotfirewecanbringitto

Figure 1. Spotfire enterprise analytics has gone from being the domain of expert users to residing on the desktop of most scientists at Organon.

“The software provides

an interactive, analytical

environment that supports a

new approach to integrated

drug design and discovery

– optimizing early drug

candidates and leading to

a reduction in late-stage

failures.”

Jacob de Vlieg

CIO R&D

© 2007 All Rights Reserved. TIBCO, TIBCO Software, The Power of Now, the TIBCO and Spotfire logos, Spotfire and Spotfire DecisionSite for Functional Genomics are trademarks or registered trademarks of TIBCO Software Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other product and company names are marks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners and are mentioned for identification purposes only.

themasses,soexpertuserscanbebridgedwiththepeoplewhoreallydothework,

asktherelevantquestionsandseeallthedetails;thetwowerealwaysseparatedinthe

past.”

ResultsWhileitisdifficulttopinpointspecificROItoSpotfiresoftware,Organonviewsitas

anessentialcontributorthatislikelysavingthecompanyalotofmoneybecauseof

itsabilitytoaccessverydifferenttypesofcomplexdatasourcesacrossdisciplines

andvisualizethedatainsuchaway,asdeVliegputsit,“thatevenmymothercan

understand.”Spotfireenterpriseanalyticsisprovingtobeespeciallyusefultoyounger

scientists,whoarealreadybroader-orientedandcanseethebiggerpicture.“Spotfire

enterpriseanalyticscouldchangethewayweworkandhelpusgetbetterdrugson

themarketmuchearlier,”assertsdeVlieg.

ThebiggestchallengesatOrganonandintheindustryatlargearethetradeoffs–

makingachoicebetweenoneprojectandanother.WiththecompletepictureSpotfire

softwareprovides,thecompanycandobetterportfoliomanagement.Theentire

pictureisn’tcompletewithoutaclinicaltrial,butifthedatacanbecombinedmuch

earlierthepredictivevalueisincreasedsignificantly.

Spotfireenterpriseanalyticsisstartingtobeusedinotherpartsofthecompany.R&D

isworkingcloselywithOrganon’smarketingorganization,anddeVliegseesother

applicationsinthepipelineaswell.

WithSpotfireenterpriseanalytics,highlyvisualandinteractivedataexplorationcan

takeplace,easilyenhancingascientist’sintuitionandexpertiseinturningmolecules

intodrugs.

“SpotfirehelpsOrganonachieveitsultimategoal,”deVliegconcludes,“whichisto

enableuserstoturndataintoinformationandunderstanding,allowingthemtotake

thestepsnecessarytobringinganewdrugtomarketfasterandmoreefficiently.”

Spotfire,

A Division of TIBCO Software Inc.

212 Elm Street

Somerville, MA 02144

Tel: +1 617 702 1600

Toll Free: +1 800 245 4211

Fax: +1 617 702 1700

http://spotfire.tibco.com