What are the considerations when deciding which disease to pursue?

Hello friends,

As you know, this newsletter is focused on the pursuit of a new medicine using a DIY approach.

I’m currently using an AI platform for the first step of drug discovery. This first step is called ‘target identification’.

Long before a medicine enters into human clinical trials, scientists need to decide on a biological target (a protein, RNA or gene that is causing the disease).

Once we have confidence in the target, we can design a small molecule or biologic drug that will engage with the target in a manner that treats or cures the disease…

Ok, so what disease should we go after?

This is an incredibly important question.

Suffering exists in the world and a good drug can eliminate some of that suffering. But, there are a hundred hurdles on the path towards a broadly distributed medicine.

Choosing the right disease to hunt down, is a big part of charting a course towards success.

To help me approach this question, I’ve created the table below. The table lays out some key considerations that a scientist or biotech company would consider when deciding on their disease of interest.

Please look over the table and share any thoughts with me. What did I miss?

I am not sure there is any precise or formulaic equation one can use when deciding on a disease of interest. I think you need to consider all of the points above and then determine what makes the most sense based on your background, expertise and resources.

To share any comments, use the email below or reply to this newsletter.

Thanks for following along,

Kevin Curran PhD

Rising Tide Biology, kevin@risingtidebio.com