Anti-Amyloids and Antichrist

Some thoughts on Peter Thiel's view of the beta-amyloid hypothesis as a lens for understanding the messy, slow cost of figuring out how to make drugs…

Feb 2 • Alex Kesin

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January 2026

Episode #1: Amylin Pharmaceuticals

Amylin pioneered the incretin class & staked their future on obesity 20+ yrs ago, yet sold for only $7B in 2012 - a pittance for the foundation of what…

Published on Approved • Jan 30

1:46:27

A Better Proxy Than the Rat and Dog

How Axiom Bio is trying to fix drug safety testing.

Jan 8 • Alex Kesin

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December 2025

Would Walter White Still Cook Meth in 2025?

Or: How Modern Oncology and Employer Insurance Would Have Ruined the Entire Premise

Dec 1, 2025 • Alex Kesin

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November 2025

The three-thousand-year journey of colchicine

For centuries it was a poison. Then colchicine rewrote treatment for gout, heart disease, and later, the debate over drug exclusivity.

Published on The Works in Progress Newsletter • Nov 20, 2025

October 2025

Fun with FGF21

...Did everyone just panic-buy an FGF21?

Oct 14, 2025

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September 2025

How Amgen Lost The PCSK9 Patent War

In 2014, Amgen sued Sanofi and Regeneron to claim ownership of an entire class of cholesterol drugs. Nine years later, the Supreme Court ruled against…

Sep 25, 2025 • Alex Kesin

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August 2025

The Cowboy Of Generic Drugs

A review of Yossi Goldstein's "Eli Hurvitz and the Creation of Teva Pharmaceuticals"

Aug 22, 2025 • Alex Kesin

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The Day Novartis Chose Discovery

How a Swiss pharma giant built the last great corporate research skunkworks - and why that model may never work again.

Aug 5, 2025 • Alex Kesin

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July 2025

July in Israel

The Iran thing canceled my June trip, which was fine because I’d been drilling Hebrew conjugations since January anyway, rolling those impossible…

Jul 25, 2025 • Alex Kesin

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June 2025

The Hollow Men of Hims

An admittedly partial - but deeply troubling - case against America's most brazen medical grift, involving Chinese knockoffs, subscription traps, and…

Jun 25, 2025 • Alex Kesin

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Against "Against Life Extension"

A response to Francis Fukuyama's case against longevity research

Jun 4, 2025 • Alex Kesin

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