Biotechnology in the Time of COVID-19, edited by Dr. Jeremy Levin, Rosetta Books, 2020.
LA JOLLA, California — This book describes “a battle that pits viral biology against human intellect and capability.”
An exciting approach to generating treatments for Covid19 is the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Taking the known structure of the virus, scientists are able to inquire as to susceptible target sites on the virus for creating drug treatments and vaccines. The goal: theoretical structure and synthesis of biomedical compounds to achieve therapeutic results.
Artificial Intelligence use is the project of Insilico Medicine, based in Hong Kong, founded by Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, with over 100 AI tasked-scientists. The team has developed a number of compounds, en route to an effective breakthrough. Our fingers are crossed.
President of The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), Dr Jeremy M. Levin, MD (CEO, Ovid Therapeutics), recruited Dr. George Scangos, PhD (CEO, VIR Biotechnology),who brought together 47 leaders in the biopharmaceutical industry to contribute to this book. Many are academics, who made discoveries from which they formed new start-up companies or brought their interests to large established companies such as Pfizer. Their project is to usher in collaborative efforts at finding solutions to this pandemic. Each has contributed, without charge, an essay on his/her COVID-19 research/experience, several with academic footnotes.
Editor Levin himself comes from a non-viral project: His company leads in the search for understanding some 8,000 rare diseases of the brain. These afflict over 400 million people worldwide. Historically these diseases do not attract big research funds. He has committed all his book royalties to two charities dedicated to rare diseases.
Scangos’ company is focused on treatments for global infectious diseases. In this urgent project he promoted collaboration with other companies on COVID-19 pursuits, i.e.”put the rapid development of therapies ahead of business concerns…and to do so as rapidly as possible.”
The 47 contributors to Levin’s book have pivoted attention within their companies to COVID-19. They include scientists, entrepreneurs, doctors, investors, venture capitalists, analysts, media, and bankers. Their companies have a myriad of approaches to the mischievous virus. At least one actually suffered a serious COVID-19 infection.
The artificial intelligence contributor notably caught my attention to kick off this review. However, I call attention to the seven sections into which the book is divided: Historical Perspectives, Personal Perspectives, The View from Inside Companies, Broad Lessons, Leadership, Investor Perspectives, and Looking to the Future.
An important contribution in the Broad Lessons section deals with bioethics, by Kenneth I. Moch, MBA. He was cofounder or CEO in five companies that pioneered novel therapies for life-threatening diseases.
He reported that over 950 inquiries have been made to the FDA for drug and vaccine proposals. At the book’s publishing, over 70 clinical trials were ongoing in the US, with over 200 other development programs in the planning stages.
Ethical considerations include:
If a treatment in limited amounts becomes available, who do you treat? critically ill patients, those recently infected, or individuals who have never been exposed?
At what stage in the drug development should it be administered as acceptable for critically ill patients, to be given Rx not yet safety-tested in humans? What about individuals only recently infected?
What inclusion criteria should be established for clinical testing? e.g. What are the criteria for co-morbid conditions, concomitant medications, age, gender, or race?—How to balance demands for social justice, interventions for the broadest populations, constraints from the demand for a rapid availability of treatment?
Can trials be randomized and placebo-controlled when that discipline might exacerbate deaths, or should they be open label?
What about other patients facing a non-COVID-19 life-threatening condition? Should attention be diverted from such problems, e.g Alzheimer’s, while the new focus is on COVID-19?
This book conveys a contemporary direction away from the previous competitiveness, jealousies, and politics of bioscience performers.
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Irv Jacobs, M.D., MPH, is a freeelance writer based in La Jolla, California. He may be contacted via irv.jacobs@sdjewishworld.com