,
11 tweets,
3 min read
Read on Twitter
Well so this is an interesting thread and since it touches on #biotech I did want to mention a few things 1/
First, the value of "making the world a better place" that @Noahpinion mentions is right on the money. Everyone I've met in biopharma is dedicated to this idea and yes, it's likely many are making less than they could elsewhere. 2/
And, it's an amazing time in biopharma! Cellular therapies of various sorts, Gene editing, CRISPR, #genomics--holy cow are there exciting things going on! BUT...3/
There's a catch to the excitement. Two catches actually, one short and one long term. The short term is, even the miracle stuff coming out if biopharma isn't curing everyone in a given target indication. We don't know why. This is frustrating. 4/
But I think we can solve that given time. The long term issue is cost. These new therapies cost a ton. Yes, yes, biopharma charges too much, sure, maybe. But cellular therapy is inherently more expensive than, say, antibody drugs which themselves are 5/
Inherently more expensive than small molecules. At this point I can't think of a way to make cellular therapies like Car-T cheap. You are taking cells out of someone, engineering them, growing them, sending them back and infusing them into the patient. 6/
The chain of custody issues are immense. So, I think perhaps the point of that thread I started with quote tweeting is maybe not that cool stuff can't be done or envisioned. But rather it can't be done _easily_ anymore. 7/
To which I say to the engineers: Pareto Principle. I also say: come on, suck it up. The early stuff is always the easiest. Self driving cars not moving as fast as you want? Is the goal still worthwhile? Then keep pushing. 8/
In #biopharma, 9 out of 10 drugs that go to trials fail. Now, let me contradict myself and say: if the current environment doesn't excite you okay. Go find one of those areas where we're still at the very early parts of our knowledge. 9/
Because that's where quantum leaps live. We need both the incremental and the transformative. Thing is, most people living and working on the edge fail and leave no trace. But that has to be done anyway. It's the only way. 10/
And good luck. 11/11
