6 ms·
The GP was talking about pharma. Proteins are not niche in pharma. Everything else may be niche in that domain, but proteins make up more than 95% of the targ
by pama 3y ago
The GP was talking about pharma. Proteins are not niche in pharma. Everything else may be niche in that domain, but proteins make up more than 95% of the targets of the pharmaceutical industry.
- dekhn 3y agoand an increasing number of drugs- in the "old days" it was almost entirely small molecules, but they are starting to peter out (both because the low-hanging fruit has already been plucked, and also, small molecules are a usually a terrible way to modulate biological activity in specific ways.
- riku_iki 3y ago> The GP was talking about pharma. post is not about pharma specifically, but about general bio-medical literature, including genes, diseases, symptoms, etc. > proteins make up more than 95% of the targets of the pharmaceutical industry. do you have references to support this? Some google search says it is 280B market out of 1.5T total pharma market: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/protein-therapeutics-market https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/protein-therapeutics-ma... https://www.statista.com/topics/1764/global-pharmaceutical-industry/#topicOverview https://www.statista.com/topics/1764/global-pharmaceutical-i... Also, it is likely important steps how to research and produce protein drugs, but the end target is to cure diseases, so you need lots of additional data about diseases of all types, symptoms, pathways, trials, etc.
- dekhn 3y agoThis isn't a "do you have references" situation. You're wasting folks time. Nearly all drugs target proteins, with a few that target DNA or RNA.
- riku_iki 3y agoYou can just ignore my comments and walk away? To me you just another "internet expert" which I am not sure why should I blindly trust.
- myownpetard 3y agoYour sources are talking about the ratio of small molecule vs. large molecule drugs. Even if you're developing small molecule drugs you are likely targeting some aspect of protein signaling/gene expression. People are being dismissive of your comments because to say that proteins are niche in the context of pharma is like saying advertising is niche in the context of Meta and Google.
- riku_iki 3y ago> People are being dismissive of your comments because to say that proteins are niche in the context of pharma is like saying advertising is niche in the context of Meta and Google. its all about how you define word "niche", for google, main revenue stream is supported by several pillars: search tech, infra tech, ads tech, ecosystem+network effect, human management. You remove one pillar, and everything is destroyed, so one can say ads is one of the niches in their food chain. I suspect with proteins it is about the same. > in the context of pharma there is no context of pharma. Post is about more broad bio-medical publications.
- myownpetard 3y ago> Word of advice to all those who are chomping at the bit to disrupt pharma with AI. Literally the first line in the comment that started this thread.
- riku_iki 3y agoSure, now let's read the post?
- dekhn 3y agoI read the post before I made any criticism of your comments. We're talking on a thread within the larger context of comments on the post. But more importantly, if you read the post, you will see there is a theme of industrial biochemistry (IE, pharma and biotech) running through it, because pharma/biotech is the primary consumer of these products, and the vast majority of the revenue stream.
- denshep 3y agoThe first Google search link you've provided is focused on proteins as an active ingredient (like an antibody), not the targets. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6314433/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6314433/ Check out this article for example.
- riku_iki 3y agoSo, that link says they discovered 1.5k FDA approved drugs which target proteins, while FDA has total 19k drugs approved: https://www.fda.gov/media/115824/download#:~:text=FDA%20regulates%20about%2075%20percent,poultry%2C%20and%20some%20egg%20products.&text=There%20are%20over%2019%2C000%20prescription%20drug%20products%20approved%20for%20marketing.&text=FDA%20oversees%20over%206%2C000%20different%20medical%20device%20product%20categories https://www.fda.gov/media/115824/download#:~:text=FDA%20regu....
- pama 3y agoHi there. Apologies for any confusion. I was clarifying the intent of the first comment in this thread. I will add some impressionistic comments below in case it helps your future service. Even when a drug target is unknown, or remains mysterious, very high chances are that the target is a protein. DNA or RNA as targets are niche (DNA is often avoided as a target on purpose and it’s hard to be specific to it without DNA-like material, and RNA is still hard to target effectively, though things are improving). There is not much else of use in the cells (lipids, sugars, cofactors, and metabolites, some examples of which have been targeted by a couple drugs each over the long history of trials, often unintentionally. Small molecules are an excellent modality for an eventual approved therapy. They almost always (so far) targets a protein. They are hard to design but when they are done well they expose the target to something nature hasn’t seen before in order to get a desired effect. Sometimes people don’t care about the target itself (think recreational drugs, or phenotypic drug discovery), but the target typically remains a protein. Proteins make up the machinery of the cell. You jam or modify them to achieve desired effects.
- pama 3y agoAlso, and totally minor: there are nowhere close to 19k different approved small molecules. The same drug can be included in multiple products or formulations bringing that number you mentioned to 19k marketed products. Each generic formulation of iboprofen increases the latter count by 1. Counting all the marketed products of pure orange juice may add up to a large number but it is still one ingredient.