The innovative use of a large-scale industry biomedical consortium to research the genetic basis of drug induced serious adverse events

The International Serious Adverse Event Consortium (SAEC) is a pharmaceutical industry and FDA led international (501 c3 non-profit) consortium, focused on identifying and validating DNA-variants useful in predicting the risk of drug induced, rare serious adverse events (SAEs). As such, it functions with the explicit purpose of enhancing the ‘public good’. Its members are (i) organizations engaged principally in the business of discovering, developing and marketing pharmaceutical products, or (ii) a charitable, governmental, or other non-profit organization with an interest in researching the molecular basis of drug response.Drug-induced, rare SAEs present significant health issues for patients; and pose challenges for the safe use of approved drugs and the development of new drugs. Examples of drug-induced, rare SAEs include hepatotoxicity, QT prolongation, rhabdomyolosis, serious skin rashes (e.g. SJS), edema, acute renal failure, acute hypersensitivity, anemias/neutropenias, excessive weigh gain, retinopathy, vasculitis, among others. The rarity of such drug induced SAEs and the absence of effective government surveillance/research networks, makes it extremely difficult for any one company or research entity to accrue enough SAE cases and controls to conduct effective whole genome studies. Central to the notion of the SAEC is industry, government and health care providers can join forces to make use of a variety of sample and data resources in researching the genetic basis of these events.The purpose of the SAEC is threefold:•To carry out research directed toward the discovery of DNA-variants clinically useful in understanding and predicting the risk of drug induced serious adverse events and similar scientific research.•To ensure the widespread availability of the results of such research to the scientific research community and the public at large for no charge through publication and web-based methods; and•To educate the scientific research and medical communities about issues related to severe adverse drug reactions and about issues related to the Consortium's research.The SAEC was launched in late September of 2007 with the scientific, technical and financial support of eight founding industrial research-funding members (i.e. Abbott, GSK, J & J, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi-Aventis and Wyeth). Additional members are being added as the consortium executes its phase one research program and develops its future plans.The Consortium's will focus initially on two research projects. It will attempt to identify DNA variants associated with drug-induced liver-disease and serious skin rashes [e.g. Stevens–Johnson syndrome (‘SJS’) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (‘TEN’)]. These two projects, while important in their own right, will also allow the SAEC to generate initial results in a reasonable time frame (owing to the availability of established case-control DNA sample collections) and build its core operations. Simultaneous with the Phase 1 research activities, the SAEC will plan follow on, hypothesis driven studies (post whole genome association studies) for DILI and SJS and explore the feasibility of whole genome research on additional SAEs. Our long term goal is to discover and validate genetic markers predictive of the major drug induced, rare SAEs and make these available at no cost at the same time, unencumbered by any intellectual property constraints, to all researchers and developers of clinical diagnostics.

Section editor:Janet Woodcock – Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, MD, USA