ReviewPost screenUPLC-MS for metabolomics: a giant step forward in support of pharmaceutical research

- Metabolomics provides a very powerful tool in pharmaceutical and clinical research.
- Metabolomic biomarkers can improve personalized treatments.
- Metabolomics can help us understand drug candidate actions and target selection.
- Biofluid testing can facilitate the diagnosis and evaluation of treatment response.

Metabolomics is a relatively new and rapidly growing area of post-genomic biological research. As use of metabolomics technology grows throughout the spectrum of drug discovery and development, and its applications broaden, its impact is expanding dramatically. This review seeks to provide the reader with a brief history of the development of metabolomics, its significance and strategies for conducting metabolomics studies. The most widely used analytical tools for metabolomics: NMR, LC-MS and GC-MS, are discussed along with considerations for their use. Herein, we will show how metabolomics can assist in pharmaceutical research studies, such as pharmacology and toxicology, and discuss some examples of the importance of metabolomics analysis in research and development.