Tim DraperFounder and Managing Partne, Draper Associate · I back the ideas that look crazy first

🤯 What happens when Big Pharma comes gunning for you?

14 Feb 2025 · 1 min

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1:12

Three speakers debate whether personalized bacteriophage therapies can compete with Big Pharma's mass-market drugs. A custom phage takes about 30 days to develop. The question: is that fast enough to treat an active infection, or does partnership with pharmaceutical companies make more sense?

So Big Pharma wants it to be one drug fits all, and they are very big and very powerful. How are you going to compete with them when they come gunning for you because you've figured out something that's bespoke?
So first of all, we would be okay with collaborating with Big Pharma down the line. You know, we don't necessarily see them as competitors per se. Yeah, the worry about Big Pharma, I think, It is a valid concern.
What I'm reading here is it takes 30 days approximately, let's say, to actually develop one of these phages. If I had a bacterial infection, is that enough? Like, is that too late?
So for M. abscessus, it's perfectly fine. The treatment for M. abscessus takes over a year, right? And it's not the kind of thing a physician would take lightly. You know, they would ponder for a couple of months at least because the current antibiotics, they are incredibly expensive. You know, they cost over $10,000 per month. 3 or 4 at the same time. They come with side effects, so they, they will avoid it if they at all can, and that's why there's a huge need for this.