Raven Biotechnologies is focused on the rapid discovery of functionally validated cell-surface targets, and the development of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) or other therapeutics to regulate them. The company's cell-based approach is built on a technology platform consisting of three proprietary components: cell lines licensed to or generated by Raven; a method of raising antibodies specific to cell-surface proteins; and genomics/proteomics approaches to identifying those proteins and mapping the cell's surface. Raven is currently working on producing MAbs for treating cancer.

Cytokinetics' plan to become a drug discovery company and ASP depends on an innovative technology platform, consisting of a program that targets the cell's cytoskeletal structure to develop novel therapeutics, and one in cellular bioinformatics, designed to unlock the lead optimization bottleneck by automating cell biology. The company has impressive talent and investors, along with some promising early validation of its technology. But it has yet to sign up any pharmaceutical company partners or customers. And it is selling to a skeptical industry that over the last decade has bought into a number of new technologies offering partial solutions to inefficiencies in the drug discovery process, without improving productivity in terms of generating pharmacologically acceptable lead compounds. Thus, the question facing Cytokinetics is how much will Big Pharma pay for potential discovery breakthrough technologies, and will it be enough for the biotech to validate their science. It's also a question likely to confront other emerging platform companies as they increasingly find themselves the sole entrants in their fields, and in the position of having to create their own markets.

Genomics has yielded more potential drug targets than anybody knows what to do with. Several start-ups are looking to streamline discovery by simultaneously identifying and validating targets.

Most genomics, combinatorial chemistry, and other biotech service businesses have been slow to provide clients the anticipated value, either in targets or compounds. Meanwhile, their competitors have caught up, commoditizing the technologies of even the industry leaders. With this lesson in mind, a new group of start-ups, pursuing "validated target discovery" technologies and the possibility of much faster timelines to targets and compounds, is racing to snare high-value partnerships while their technologies still have unique value. The partnerships won't leave all the chemistry and preclinical work to the clients--the low-risk strategy platform companies used to pursue--but will instead pay enough money so that the new start-ups, like Rigel and Arcaris, can create fully-integrated drug discovery platforms capable of producing IND-stage products. These start-ups need to take on the added risk in order to generate the required upside and create the only kind of enduring, high-value intellectual property in the drug industry: products themselves.