The history of biotechnology is full of examples of promising technologies that took decades to reach their full potential. Two recent cases are weight-loss drugs and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), which are now generating blockbuster sales and attracting major deals after years of setbacks and failures. Gene editing is another technology hailed as a game-changer for human medicine, but it still faces several challenges before it can deliver on its promise. The long and volatile history of the weight-loss/ADC markets should prove useful to gene-editing investors. Read on to find out more.

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Obesity is a major public health problem that affects millions of people worldwide and increases the risk of many chronic diseases. However, developing effective and safe weight-loss drugs has been notoriously difficult. In the early 1990s, a handful of drugs were readily available for weight loss, but they soon ran afoul of regulators due to serious side effects, such as heart-valve damage and pulmonary hypertension. In the 2010s, a new wave of weight-loss drugs emerged, but they also had limited efficacy and safety issues, resulting in low market penetration and patient adherence.

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Source Fool.com