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Iggy Fanlo's avatar

Packy. Thanks for linking to this.. WOW... so much to digest... this is a serious loaf of information and logic

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Saul's avatar

Another highly impactful essay, which I will re-read in a few days time. One thought: for the sake of argument let’s assume the “bull” case regarding ML & antibody generation, enabling the industry to generate mabs of exquisite sensitivity and affinity. Now, of the >10000 diseases (majority of which are orphan), how many do you think are sufficiently well understood at the molecular level to enable them to be addressed using our new, improved methodology? I honestly don’t know the answer here but suspect that it’s a minority (and a small one at that). Thus, the rate-limiting step is likely to be fundamental disease understanding rather than the challenges inherent in drug discovery/development. (I think Robert Plenge at BMS has written about this extensively). Furthermore, consider two very high profile (and prevalent) diseases; Alzheimer’s & Parkinson’s. Here, we’ve experienced either clear cut failure or minor success despite (apparently) identifying the causal agent & pathway. I suspect “better” mabs will only shift the dial a little at most.

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