Protein renaissance

Proteins and antibodies were supposed to be the raison d'etre for biotechnology. But with the exception of the "low-hanging fruit" of previously known proteins like insulin, human growth hormone (hGH) and erythropoietin (EPO), and the recent increase in marketed antibodies, protein therapeutics have not been the slam dunk that some expected them to be.

Initially the small number of known proteins limited the probability that any one of them would have therapeutic value, and at the same time, the technology was lacking to discover and sift through new proteins in a systematic way. ...