Dennis Sun
1.3K posts
@Mezarque
Cofounder of @dittobio, @ycombinator (W26) | prev: @berkeleyMCB @hscrb
Keytruda transformed cancer care and made Merck more money than any drug in history. It was also discovered by accident, and nearly out-licensed in 2010 for pocket change. New Approved + exclusive interviews with the inventors and the Merck CMO who ran development:
The genomics revolution told us which genes cause disease. The next revolution is giving patients a pill that silences those genes. Not a $100K/year biologic requiring regular injections or a $1M gene therapy. A gene-silencing small molecule you can take at home. We're building this at @EnduraTx. Here's how. 🧵
🧬 @dittobio is utilizing parasite strategies for developing breakthrough drugs for autoimmune disease. Why parasites? They've been running experiments on humans for millions of years being able to control the human immune system. Ditto is building an AI platform to identify drug-like proteins from these types of organisms which they then engineer into safe, effective therapeutics. 🦠 🪲 🪱 They are just getting started and have already analyzed over a million proteins across primate-infecting viruses, ticks, and parasitic worms. Initial discovery is looking promising! @pioneer_fund is proud to back these three PhD scientists! Congratulations @AdairLBorges, @Mezarque, and @emilycpierce. Excited to partner with you!
