The cost would probably be a significant fraction of the development of a new monoclonal antibody treatment, making this currently probably limited to billionaires.
Personalized drug development on that scale isn’t something that can simply be purchased, and if billionaires tried, governments would probably block them, because voters would consider that unfair, and because cancer researchers can’t simply be increased in proportion to budgets. There are only so many people with the relevant skills and inclinations.
Better methods for development wouldn’t just reduce costs, but would also reduce time taken. There would need to be a billionaire, diagnosed with cancer without a good treatment, who would clearly die from it, but not for a couple years.
Better methods and understanding wouldn’t just reduce costs and time, they’d also reduce risks. Targeting a receptor that’s actually important normally but wasn’t fully understood could kill someone before the cancer.
I imagine a startup of this ilk could be based in Prospera, which wouldn’t be a problem for the wealthy few to travel there for personalised treatment.
I also imagine that with a lighter regulatory regime, no need to scale up production, and no need for lengthy trials, developing a monoclonal antibody would be much quicker and cheaper. Consider how quickly COVID vaccines were found compared to when they were ready for use.
There are a few issues with that.
The cost would probably be a significant fraction of the development of a new monoclonal antibody treatment, making this currently probably limited to billionaires.
Personalized drug development on that scale isn’t something that can simply be purchased, and if billionaires tried, governments would probably block them, because voters would consider that unfair, and because cancer researchers can’t simply be increased in proportion to budgets. There are only so many people with the relevant skills and inclinations.
Better methods for development wouldn’t just reduce costs, but would also reduce time taken. There would need to be a billionaire, diagnosed with cancer without a good treatment, who would clearly die from it, but not for a couple years.
Better methods and understanding wouldn’t just reduce costs and time, they’d also reduce risks. Targeting a receptor that’s actually important normally but wasn’t fully understood could kill someone before the cancer.
Makes sense thanks!
I imagine a startup of this ilk could be based in Prospera, which wouldn’t be a problem for the wealthy few to travel there for personalised treatment.
I also imagine that with a lighter regulatory regime, no need to scale up production, and no need for lengthy trials, developing a monoclonal antibody would be much quicker and cheaper. Consider how quickly COVID vaccines were found compared to when they were ready for use.
The other hurdles sound significant though.