modality

A modality is the broad type of thing a therapeutic is, in the same way a vehicle can be a bicycle, a car, or an airplane. Each kind has its own strengths, weaknesses, and rules of the road, even though all are ways of getting somewhere.

Concretely, it is the broad molecular category of a therapeutic, such as small molecule, antibody, or oligonucleotide. Other modalities include peptides, cell and gene therapies, and protein degraders, and each comes with characteristic ways of being made, delivered, and dosed.

Choosing a modality early shapes the whole project, because it determines which targets are reachable, whether a pill or an injection is needed, and what manufacturing looks like. Modern teams increasingly match the modality to the biology of the target rather than defaulting to one familiar type.