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Induced protein proximity drug discovery, from 30,000 feet
Ray Deshaies, head of discovery research at Amgen, discusses the role of PROTACs, RIBOTACs, molecular glues, multispecific biologics and DNA-encoded libraries in industry’s future.
Insight can strike in unexpected places. For Ray Deshaies, SVP of Global Research at Amgen, it tends to come high up in the sky. “Several of the key insights I've had in my life have occurred on airplanes,” says Deshaies. Flying back from Denmark after Amgen’s acquisition of Nuevolution in 2019, for example, he noticed a trend in his company’s preclinical portfolio that may foretell the future of industry writ large: the rise of multispecific therapeutics that drive induced proximity between otherwise disparate biological players.