Catherine Cifuentes-Rojas Releases Essential Go/No-Go Checklist for Early-Stage Biotherapeutic Discovery Teams

GTTP

Provides a standardized five-question framework to evaluate early-stage biotherapeutic programs.
Encourages objective data analysis to replace gut-feeling and seniority-based decision-making.
Facilitates cross-functional alignment between biology, computational, and engineering teams.
Protects capital and resources by identifying non-viable candidates before costly preclinical stages.

Impact - Why it Matters

This framework addresses the systemic industry challenge of 'sunk cost fallacy' in drug development. By standardizing decision-making, it promotes scientific rigor, reduces wasted capital on non-viable candidates, and democratizes the evaluation process, ultimately accelerating the delivery of robust therapies to the clinic while fostering a culture of objective accountability.

Summary

Industry veteran Catherine Cifuentes-Rojas, currently a Director at Ginkgo Bioworks, has introduced a strategic, open-access checklist designed to optimize the go/no-go decision-making process for biotherapeutic programs. Drawing on over 15 years of experience across academic and commercial sectors, including roles at Harvard Medical School and Sail Biomedicines, Cifuentes-Rojas developed this framework to provide discovery teams with a structured, data-driven approach to evaluating candidate viability.

The checklist consists of five critical questions that challenge teams to prioritize objective evidence over subjective momentum. By mandating independent system replication, encouraging hypothesis-testing experiments, and weighing in vivo data over preliminary signals, the tool helps teams effectively mitigate risk. It serves as a neutral, cross-functional standard that empowers junior scientists to present disconfirming data while aligning diverse teams—from computational experts to biologists—on a shared set of rigorous milestones.

This initiative is intended to be used at key inflection points, such as post-target validation or prior to IND-enabling studies. By formalizing these assessments, Cifuentes-Rojas aims to prevent the common pitfall of emotional attachment to programs. The checklist ensures that early failures are identified quickly, effectively protecting both capital and human resources while fostering a culture of scientific integrity that favors long-term, high-quality development over speed.

Catherine Cifuentes-Rojas Releases Essential Go/No-Go Checklist for Early-Stage Biotherapeutic Discovery Teams

GTTP

Provides a standardized five-question framework to evaluate early-stage biotherapeutic programs.
Encourages objective data analysis to replace gut-feeling and seniority-based decision-making.
Facilitates cross-functional alignment between biology, computational, and engineering teams.
Protects capital and resources by identifying non-viable candidates before costly preclinical stages.