To prepare for its internally discovered drugs, Eikon Therapeutics first in-licensed external programs. This allowed their newly-formed clinical team, led by a Merck veteran, to build cohesion and processes on existing assets, avoiding the risk of testing their teamwork for the first time on novel, internally-developed molecules.
Eikon's core premise is a technology platform, not a specific drug target. By using super-resolution microscopy to visualize individual protein interactions in living cells in real-time, they can study these "social lives of proteins" to identify novel drug targets and mechanisms that are invisible to traditional biochemical methods.
Eikon's acquisition strategy is guided by the "privileged owner" principle: only acquiring assets where they possess unique knowledge. For their lead drug, prior experience at Merck revealed a simple dosing change (from weight-based to body surface area) could solve the key toxicity issue, creating an opportunity that competitors missed.
Counter to injecting immunotherapies directly into tumors, Roger Perlmutter argues for systemic administration. He posits that intra-tumoral injections are ineffective because the T-cells needed to expand the immune repertoire are primarily located in secondary lymphoid tissues like lymph nodes and the spleen, not the tumor itself.
Eikon's strategy for its PARP inhibitor wasn't just to create a better version of an existing drug class, but one with superior combinability. By selectively targeting PARP1, they minimized the hematologic toxicity that prevented older PARP inhibitors from being used with chemotherapies like taxanes, opening up earlier lines of treatment.
Roger Perlmutter believes the next generation of therapies will likely come from China, not due to inherently superior innovation (yet), but because of its overwhelming investment in science and engineering. He notes that China graduates more STEM students annually than the rest of the world combined, while the US is defunding science.