Jeb Keiper

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@JebKeiper

Former CEO @NimbusTx. Board member at multiple companies helping teams discover & develop new medicines for patients. Any tweets are solely my own views.

Joined December 2014

418 Following 5.5K Followers 4.4K Posts

Latest posts 5

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Jeb Keiper @JebKeiper Jan 20, 2023

I've always enjoyed studying the history of drug R&D, and to share a small snapshot of one perspective on @ldtimmerman's podcast was quite humbling. I submit for your 1.25-1.5x listening pleasure a small piece of the @NimbusTx story (along with some personal early career stories)

Nimbus Therapeutics @NimbusTx Jan 20, 2023

Nimbus CEO @jebkeiper joined @Ldtimmerman’s Long Run podcast to share personal insights on the Nimbus story from our computational beginnings 14 years ago, through the Takeda acquisition of our allosteric TYK2 inhibitor, and what our next chapter holds. apple.co/3Hj4D3X
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Jeb Keiper @JebKeiper 4d

@mcuban gets it right, there is so much complexity in the details. TBH, those of us in this complexity would welcome this type of effort. The incoming Congress, if willing to engage bipartisanly, could lay the groundwork for a next administration that was interested in shaping a careful approach. He's right though, telling the healthcare industry what to do is a recipe for disaster.

Mark Cuban Verified account @mcuban 4d

For those who say it’s time for universal care. I am all for it. It would be nice if we could find a way to reduce the cost of care and make it available to everyone, for anything.

But it will take work to get there. Other countries with Universal Care make “Most Things available to All People”. It’s not perfect.

In our country, we make “Everything available to Most People”.

The question for this country, unlike others, is how we can make the best possible care and therapies, regardless of cost, to everyone ?

Read @AbdulElSayed ‘s book on Medicare for All. He wisely had more questions than answers. Medicare for All ? Global Budgets ? Or something else ?

It’s a difficult path from where we are to “E4E” Healthcare. ?Everything for Everyone)

My hope is that we can put together a Simpson Bowles type, Blue Ribbon Commission. One that includes representatives of all stakeholders. From all different type of patients. Including rare disease parents. Rural and Urban Hospitals. The most expensive hospitals that offer unique care. Pharma companies that offer everything from genetics to Cell and Gene Therapies. You get the point

Some people think we can just tell all those working in the healthcare system what to do.

That’s the fastest way for this to fail. We need to be as close as we can to being on the same page. And we need to figure out a non partisan manner of running our American version of Universal Care.

No reason we can’t start now
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Jeb Keiper @JebKeiper 4d

Jeff Leiden and I obviously agree.

Kalani o Māui Verified account @MauiBoyMacro 5d

‘“That’s complete BS,” said Jeff Leiden, executive chairman of Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Vertex has used roughly 50 AI companies to comb through its data set of 10,000 drug compounds, Leiden said. Not one managed to generate a working drug.’ 👇🏼

wsj.com/tech/ai/silico…

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Jeb Keiper @JebKeiper 6d

The Myth Behind the “N of 1 Biotech”
@Prof_Oak_ captured the industry’s attention when @AnthropicAI acquired Mithril, his “1 person biotech.” Lean biotechs are hardly new, but the news sparked a wave of low-headcount examples and explainers on how an “N of 1 biotech” works.
As many in the industry have noted, the mystique obscures a simple reality: developing a medicine still takes a small village. Consultants and contract research organizations conduct the work; others manufacture the product, advance it through development and approval, and commercialize it across markets. That remains true regardless of how many employees originated the idea.
The real issue behind the “N of 1 biotech” enthusiasm is not payroll or office space. It is decision-making and incentives.
Check out the rest of my blog here:
jebkeiper.substack.com/p/the-myth-beh…

jebkeiper.substack.com The Myth Behind the “N of 1 Biotech” The reality is about decision making and incentives

Jeb Keiper @JebKeiper Oct 29

As @AndrewE_Dunn noted, we need to temper expectations about AI ushering in a panacea of immediate medical cures. AI will aid us all and roll over everything—but it will not fundamentally change the laws of physics or drug development.

Here are three realities we need to talk about:

1. The "N of 1" biotech is an illusion.
"One-person biotechs" are never truly one person. Whether it's our friend @Prof_Oak_ securing the capital to prosecute forward, or a solo founder directing a virtual network, they are still surrounding themselves with people (N>1). Relying on consultants, CROs, and contracted research units to do physical experiments isn't revolutionary—it’s exactly how a leading pharma scientist directs a program using a mix of human teams and machines like Claude.

2. Clinical trials aren't going anywhere.
Claiming AI will completely replace clinical trials is naive. AI can brilliantly guide our strategy—like deciding whether to target thyroid eye disease versus upstream Graves' disease, or calculating ROI and success criteria. But AI cannot replace physical evidence of activity. Even if a drug is fully designed by AI, the very first human who takes it is still conducting a first-in-human trial. That data will always have to be tracked, measured, and compared.

3. "New use" is not a "new molecule."
We must stop conflating two very different achievements:
Discovering a New Molecular Entity (NME): Creating something that has never existed before in the known universe.
Repurposing a known entity: Finding a new use for an existing molecule.
Both get labeled as "new drugs," but the scientific hurdle is vastly different. AI will accelerate our quest for medicines, but it does not replace the requirement for real-world evidence.

Andrew Dunn @AndrewE_Dunn Oct 29

The "Age of Miracles" era:

I took a look inside Anthropic's latest progress in the life sciences, including working with a ton of biopharma partners and a new acquisition disclosure

All coming before what is likely the business world's largest IPO:
endpoints.news/anthropic-pitc…
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