Our results highlight the importance of similarity between associated trait and drug indication in determining which gene target-indication pairs are likely to lead to approved drugs. Our finding that genetic associations for highly dissimilar traits reduce the probability of approval is new and could be of significance once the reason is better understood. A possible explanation is an increased incidence of side effects due to involvement in unrelated disease mechanisms. It suggests that when target disease links are known, genetic data can improve the drug development process through improved indication selection.
