Biotech Values

[microcapfun]

MAXY

>>I'm not sure anything from their gene shuffling platform ever even made it into the clinic.<<

False. They had at least one product make it to Phase II.

>>Surely that speaks to something about the platform.<<

Even if you were correct in the first statement, which you are not, the second statement does not follow. First of all the directed evolution platform is a general method for optimizing proteins, not just for making protein therapeutics. Look up Maxygen spinoffs Codexis (enzymes) and Verdia (bio-ag), and what happened to them. Also look up Avidia, which Amgen acquired for $290M plus a $90M earnout. Clearly there are entities who felt the technology had value.

Secondly, the success or failure of an application of directed evolution depends crucially on what you screen for and how you implement those screens. ("You get what you screen for" - Frances Arnold.) There are many examples where directed evolution has worked extraordinarily well - including making new enzymes for laundry detergents. But to successfully apply directed evolution - or any other method of protein optimization, for that matter - you need to know what you want to optimize and figure out how to explicitly implement that optimization through high throughput screening methods. If Maxygen failed, that's probably why they failed IMO. It's not that the technology didn't work. Look up some of the papers of Frances Arnold of Caltech (quoted above), for example. Directed evolution is a powerful tool, but like any tool, you have to figure out how best to use it. And that isn't trivial.

micro