I have a hard time believing that large pharma research labs are limiting themselves to single loci for a given disease phenotype. But if they are, it makes sense why YC would see value in this.
They aren't
Verge Genomics (YC S15) Wants to Cure Neurodegenerative Diseases with Algorithms
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Re: Verge Genomics (YC S15) Wants to Cure Neurodegenerative Diseases with Algorithms
#22> But Verge Genomics is able to cure brain diseases 1000x more quickly than big pharma by using algorithms Guffaw. Tech journalism at its finest. The company sounds great, but I'm not sure Techcrunch is really doing them a lot of favors by just making stuff up.
Right, if they'd said "Verge hopes to be able to cure brain diseases 1000x more quickly" we might cut them some slack. Not to mention that many of these diseases haven't been cured by anyone before, 'big pharma' included, so I don't know how you'd estimate the improvement in time to market...
Considering that the best ALS drugs cost about $1000/month and have results that statistically are barely distinguishable from placebos, there's a long way to go.
Re: Verge Genomics (YC S15) Wants to Cure Neurodegenerative Diseases with Algorithms
#23I have a hard time believing that large pharma research labs are limiting themselves to single loci for a given disease phenotype. But if they are, it makes sense why YC would see value in this.
They aren't
I'm going to presume that I don't really understand the company then, because the founders and advisers should certainly know more than I do about drug discovery.
Re: Verge Genomics (YC S15) Wants to Cure Neurodegenerative Diseases with Algorithms
#24I understand that journalists often create a simplified straw-man to contrast to a new and innovative upstart, however as someone who once served as an industry analyst at the intersection of life science discovery and technical computing this article's characterization of how big pharma approach drug discovery seems almost cartoon like in its stereotyping of the discovery and development process at big pharma. Can y…
> I understand that journalists often create a simplified straw-man to contrast to a new and innovative upstart, however as someone who once served as an industry analyst at the intersection of life science discovery and technical computing this article's characterization of how big pharma approach drug discovery seems almost cartoon like in its stereotyping of the discovery and development process at big pharma.
Journalists often don't create the simplified strawmen, the PR staff writing the press releases for the firm that they are covering do that for them.
Re: Verge Genomics (YC S15) Wants to Cure Neurodegenerative Diseases with Algorithms
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hi there - thanks for the interest! For a more technical dissection of some of the genomics approaches we employ to identify neurodegenerative disease targets, check out these reviews: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7266/full/nature0... http://www.nature.com/nrg/journal/v16/n8/pdf/nrg3934.pdf
I don't currently have access to those publications and not willing to pay just to read these articles but from the titles, abstracts and citations it sounds like basically you are taking a systems biology and GWAS approach? The Institute for Systems Biology has been around since 2000. I remember interviewing people in an internal systems biology group at one of the largest pharma companies in the world in 2004 and w…
Keep in mind that this article was not written by the founders of Verge Genomics, but by a journalist who "writes about internet culture, social networks, and consumer-facing technology." So they are probably going to use speech that will make the more science/biotech literate person bristle.
Re: Verge Genomics (YC S15) Wants to Cure Neurodegenerative Diseases with Algorithms
#26The breathless tone of this TechCrunch article reminds me of this commentary on Atomwise (also a YC biotech): http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2015/03/26/tone_it_down... In my opinion, YC has no idea what they're doing in biotech. Here's a much more credible neuro disease startup that was recently launched: http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2015/05/14/former-... I'm sure Alice and Jason are very intellige…
It's been the case in nearly every industry that the "small and nimble upstart" rarely wins. Until they do. Biotech the seems ripe for the same sort of nimble innovation we've seen in software and hardware over the last couple decades. Wrote a bit about this here: http://www.sethbannon.com/biotech-in-the-garage
Your article employs the same sort of breathless rhetoric as TechCrunch:
> A smart software developer can build and launch a web or mobile app and get paying customers for under $2,000. The same will soon be true for biotechnology.
Moore's law is a unique phenomenon, and it most certainly does not apply in biotech.
Re: Verge Genomics (YC S15) Wants to Cure Neurodegenerative Diseases with Algorithms
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't currently have access to those publications and not willing to pay just to read these articles but from the titles, abstracts and citations it sounds like basically you are taking a systems biology and GWAS approach? The Institute for Systems Biology has been around since 2000. I remember interviewing people in an internal systems biology group at one of the largest pharma companies in the world in 2004 and w…
Keep in mind that this article was not written by the founders of Verge Genomics, but by a journalist who "writes about internet culture, social networks, and consumer-facing technology." So they are probably going to use speech that will make the more science/biotech literate person bristle.
Does YC provide advice to tech companies about communicating complex ideas to not so technical writers and a non technical audience?
Re: Verge Genomics (YC S15) Wants to Cure Neurodegenerative Diseases with Algorithms
#28Genomic vapor ware. When will people understand the problem with genomics isn't complexity, it is a lack of raw data. We simply have not collected enough annotation on what every gene does and how it interacts. Without that information, you have diddly-squat.
The devil is in the details. Look at all the drug trials that work in mice or even monkeys but not humans.
Re: Verge Genomics (YC S15) Wants to Cure Neurodegenerative Diseases with Algorithms
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's been the case in nearly every industry that the "small and nimble upstart" rarely wins. Until they do. Biotech the seems ripe for the same sort of nimble innovation we've seen in software and hardware over the last couple decades. Wrote a bit about this here: http://www.sethbannon.com/biotech-in-the-garage
Your article employs the same sort of breathless rhetoric as TechCrunch: > A smart software developer can build and launch a web or mobile app and get paying customers for under $2,000. The same will soon be true for biotechnology. Moore's law is a unique phenomenon, and it most certainly does not apply in biotech.
It's true that Moore's law doesn't apply everywhere. In fact, some costs (like the costs of sequencing a human genome) are falling much faster than Moore's law would predict: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/DNA_Sequ...
Re: Verge Genomics (YC S15) Wants to Cure Neurodegenerative Diseases with Algorithms
#30Genomic vapor ware. When will people understand the problem with genomics isn't complexity, it is a lack of raw data. We simply have not collected enough annotation on what every gene does and how it interacts. Without that information, you have diddly-squat.
This isn't 100% wrong, but it's definitely close. To out it vaguely, there is enormous complexity and structure that we can't even model yet.