From a basic science standpoint, I'd say academic science is extremely aware, interested and highly active in many facets of epigenetics. Epigenetic modifcations are integral to growth and development, cellular differentiation, brain development, etc. etc. Additionally, several disease conditions as well as environmental influences (chemical exposure, stress/trauma at critical times, etc) have strong epigenetic components that have been well documented by basic science. It was basic academic science that made the epigenetic discoveries that spurred therapeutic interest.

Case in point is James Bradner, physician-scientist from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, who discovered and characterized the most widely used BET inhibitor JQ1 and has just recently been appointed President of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) and a member of the Executive Committee of Novartis, effective March 1, 2016.

So the better question is how can this knowledge be capitalized on to develop drugs to treat medical conditions such as cancer, CVD and diabetes. The problem is that the enzymes involved in epigenetics are so pervasive, that there will always be concern of how can this be taken advantage of to treat a specific disease or biological readout, sometimes in a specific type a cell or tissue, without eliciting unintentional widespread effects through the body. So basic academic science is already sold on the importance of epigenetics. However, the jury is still out on whether any of these enzyme targets are indeed druggable. Can you name an epigenetic drug that has passed Phase 3 trials and is currently prescribed to patients? Until these drugs are proven both safe and effective without unintended side effects, there will be doubt as to their therapeutic potential.

BearDownAZ