The Ruijin discovery was remarkable: trans-retinoic acid represented the long-sought fantasy of molecular oncology—an oncogene-targeted cancer drug. But the discovery was a fantasy lived backward. Wang and Degos had first stumbled on trans-retinoic acid through inspired guesswork—and only later discovered that the molecule could directly target an oncogene. But was it possible to make the converse journey—starting from oncogene and going to drug? Indeed, Robert Weinberg’s lab in Boston had already begun that converse journey, although Weinberg himself was largely oblivious of it.
