Long ago, when I first began working in biotechnology, I read a book called, "The 800 Million Dollar Pill" It was a book that told the story of an industry gone mad. The cost of bringing a drug to market was out of control and something needed to be done. The book came out in 1998. Twenty years later Juno, a company that has yet to get a drug approval, sells for nine billion dollars.
How does this happen?
Juno has a promise. As usual in our cargo cult companies, Juno provides an animated illustration on how their technology works. Their pipeline page shows 11 candidates. Eight are in phase 1 and three are in phase 1/phase 2. The promise is the cargo that we look for up in the sky. We've heard about the cures for cancer. When do they arrive?
For the investors and higher ups at Juno, the cargo has already arrived. $9 billion is a big deal. And they never even got to phase three with any drug candidate.
Another company that is on our list as a cargo cult is Serepta. I discussed how they got their first drug approved from a trial with only 12 patients here. The company has since gone on to improving their stock price by releasing a new study that only has 3 patients. AAVrh74.MHCK7.micro-dystrophin (that's the name of the drug) was shown to have increased micro-dystrophin and reduced serum creatine kinase. As you can see from their handling of data from the previous trial, they have a way of making data fitting into the preconceived narrative. Does it help the young boys in their daily struggle with the disease? We do not hear from the parents. Since the studies are done on only a few kids, why not follow them as the disease progresses? What do the drugs do besides change the numbers on the charts submitted to the FDA?
Since beginning this blog, the Cargo Cults of Biopharma have evolved. They no longer need to spend $800M and get a drug approval. They have improved their ceremonies. The man in the watch tower with a coconut headset now looks more like a real air traffic controller. The deals continue to be made and money continues to flow into companies like Juno and Serepta. What do we the consumers get in exchange? Cures for cancer? Treatment for DMD?
It's about money. Science is losing. Before we leave the planet our money will be spent on these useless products. Currently our money is funding research that will one day become another biotech start-up. Are we getting our moneys worth?
