Drug discovery and development is a slow and costly process, but the Regeneron Genetics Center represents a drugmakers’ bet that harnessing large amounts of genetic data can point the way to better targets, greater success rates, and ultimately better drugs. We spoke to Aris Baras, vice president and head of the Regeneron Genetics Center ahead of the Precision Medicine World Conference 2017 in Silicon Valley about how large genetic studies are brining fundamental change to the drug development process, the approach Regeneron is taking, and why its becoming a necessary element of drug development today.