Question: How would you make medicine starting from scratch

Jaine Blayney answered on 16 Nov 2016:

Starting from scratch? First you need to figure out what genes that you need to treat. So we look at patient data (which genes are up and which genes are down). Then we try to figure out which are the problem genes, what needs to be switched off, what needs to be switched on. So we need to figure out the drug’s purpose before we even start to look at its structure. Then we look at tumour models in the lab (white coat time) and use known drugs to figure out how they work. Then we can start altering the drug’s structure to alter its function.