Biotech Values

[poorgradstudent]

>What I find remarkable about the structure and origin part of the Lucentis vs Avastin debate is that the ~70% reduction in molecular weight of Lucentis compared to Avastin and the multiple-pass optimization of Lucentis’ VEGF binding affinity have apparently produced much less of a clinical benefit than the drug developers envisioned.

Does this imply that drug optimization is even more of a misnomer than most investors think?<

My view on this topic is that there is likely little to be gained, efficacy-wise, from "optimizing" a molecule that has already shown efficacy. I would suspect that optimizations are more likely to yield advances in convenience, such as simplified dosing, and reduced off-target binding to lessen certain AEs.

My feeling is that some big pharmas would like to use "optimization" as a means of producing "new" biological drugs, extend patent lives, and prepare to ward off any potential future generic biologic challenges. I think it is somewhat analogous to selling a pure enantiomer once the mixture is running off patent... a theoretical argument can be made for less AEs / better dosing, but i don't think the clinical efficacy is going to improve significantly.