Biotech Industry Shift from Disease Treatment to Wellness

Ginkgo Bioworks CEO @jrkelly says GLP-1s are opening the door for biotech to do more in wellness and longevity, rather than only serving the disease industry: “If you think about the pharmaceutical industry today, it’s basically the disease industry. How much of your life are you sick? For the average person, not that much.” “How much of your life would you like to feel better? Sleep better? Have more muscles?” “If you had something that added muscle mass annually in your 60s - that’s another GLP-1. That’s a multi-trillion-dollar drug. If you have something that adds a year to lifespan, what’s it worth?” “The pathway to apply all of this to wellness is much more muddy and unclear. How do you get FDA approval? There are lots of barriers. We haven’t thrown the full horsepower of biotechnology against that problem - we’ve only thrown it at disease. I think that needs to change.”