Business Of Biotech
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On the surface, the merger of Medsenic (a developer of arsenic salt formulations for therapeutic application in inflammatory conditions) and Bone Therapeutics (which develops allogeneic cell therapies for complicated bone fractures) doesnt look obviously synergistic. But Francois Rieger, Ph.D. says that on the scientific level, its a perfect union, and the veteran biotech founder says the business should follow the science. The union of the two companies formed BioSenic, which Dr. Regier now serves as CEO. On this weeks episode of the Business of Biotech, Dr. Regier shows us the good, the bad, and the ugly of the merger process and shares his philosophy on letting science lead the way, regardless of the analysts takes. Subscribe to the NEW #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/ for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. Its a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that ! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/!
Among a growing cluster of Pittsburgh biotechs, youll find BlueSphere Bio, an early-stage company discovering T-cell receptors to leverage against tumor-specific antigens in individual cancer patients. Its leader, CEO Keir Loiacono, Esq., works with a sense of urgency inspired by his own cancer journey. Business of Biotech host Matt Pillar and guest co-host Jon OConnell, executive editor at Bioprocess Online, toured Bluespheres state-of-the-art facility perched on the bank of the Monongahela River. Then, we sat down with Loiacono to learn his story and discuss the companys vision for the future of personalized, adoptive cell therapy. Subscribe to the NEW #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/ for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. Its a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that ! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/!
SPECIAL EDITION: BoB@JPM Elixirgen Therapeutics CEO Akihiro Ko joins the Business of Biotech for the final episode in our special series recorded at JPM Week in San Francico. Chief Editor Ben Comer joined us for the conversation. We dive deep into Elixirgens unique, temperature-controlled in-vivo gene expression technology designed to address common cell therapy administration challenges and unwanted, off-target immunogenicity effects. Ko also shares progress on the companys ex-vivo candidate EXG-34217, an autologous cell therapy for telomere biology disorders, offers his take on the ever-crowded RNA therapeutics space and how the company is separating itself from the crowd, and much more! Subscribe to the NEW #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/ for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. Its a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that ! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/!
SPECIAL EDITION: BOB@JPM Flagship Pioneering plucked Michael Severino, M.D. away from AbbVie to run point at Tessera, a startup its backed to pioneer a new category of genetic medicine it calls gene writing. The Business of Biotech caught up with Severino at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco last month. We learned what lured him away from leadership positions at Merck, Amgen, and AbbVie, how gene writing differs from gene therapy and gene editing, why the team at Tessera believes its technologies can write and rewrite DNA at the scales necessary to cure most genetic diseases, and where he plans to take the company from here. Subscribe to the NEW #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/ for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. Its a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that ! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/!
SPECIAL EDITION: BOB@JPM Bolt Biotherapeutics CEO Randall Schatzman, Ph.D. and CMO Edith Perez, M.D. are no strangers to the Business of Biotech, having previously joined us on episodes 14 and 18, respectively. The last time we spoke with Dr. Schatzman, he was preparing the company for its initial public offering. We caught up with him and Dr. Perez at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco last month for a conversation on the IPO process, the impacts its had on the go-forward plan at Bolt Bio, the companys clinical progress, and its collaboration strategy moving forward. Subscribe to the NEW #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/ for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. Its a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that ! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/!
SPECIAL EDITION: BoB@JPM The JP Morgan Healthcare Conference is a target-rich environment for conversations with the leaders of up-and-coming biopharma companies, so we took the Business of Biotech on the road. On todays episode, we sat down with Matt Coffey, Ph.D., who earned his Ph.D. in 1998 and turned his doctoral thesis into a biopharma company called Oncolytics in 1999. Dr. Coffey shares on his abrupt transition from academia to industry, tells tales of the companys backstory, and updates us on its aggressive clinical activity spanning 7 wide-ranging oncology programs. Subscribe to the NEW #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/ for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. Its a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that ! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/!
SPECIAL EDITION: BoB@JPM The Business of Biotech podcast took to the streets of San Francisco during the 41st Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. This weeks episode features a conversation with Sangamo Therapeutics CEO Sandy Macrea, Ph.D., who rationalizes the companys aggressive pipeline development and its decision to invest in multinational AAV and cell therapy manufacturing facilities in France and California. Dr. Macrea zeroes in on the relationship between people and processes thats enabled the company to grow to more than 500 associates working on nearly 20 cell therapy, gene therapy, and genome engineering programs. Subscribe to the NEW #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/ for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. Its a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that ! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/!
Is it past time for a new approach to the COVID vaccine? Ocugen Chairman of the Board, Founder & CEO Shankar Musunuri, Ph.D. says yes, and his ideals would mark significant improvements: fewer shots, better durability, less post-vaccination transmission, and safety proven by time-tested technology. How would such a vaccine be produced? Dr. Musunuri lays out the manufacturing science— and why the improved COVID vaccine his company is currently putting through Phase 2/3 trials makes good business sense—on this weeks episode of the Business of Biotech. Subscribe to the NEW #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/ for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. Its a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that ! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/!
* Call it fortuitous, good planning, instinct, or a combination of all three, but Nadim Ahmeds educational foundation— earned before the IT/Biology combination was cool— is serving him well as CEO at Cullinan Oncology. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, Ahmed shares his story and that of Cullinan Oncologys drug discovery efforts, which have yielded a wide range of multi-modal candidates spanning a range of cancer indications. Our discussion digs into the companys transition from R&D to the clinic, how its built an uncommonly comfortable cash position through partnership, and its ambition to become a fully-integrated commercial-stage biotech. Subscribe to the NEW #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/ for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. Its a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that ! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/!
After more than 21 years leading process, product, and technical development efforts at Merck and Takeda, Piper Trelstad, Ph.D. joined the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute (MRI) in January, 2022. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, well dive into how the MRI, a full-fledged clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, is tackling health problems that challenge some of the worlds most vulnerable populations. Dr. Trelstad also shares her minority perspective as a woman working in a highly technical capacity in biopharma, and how the industry can proactively support and advance women in technical roles. Subscribe to the NEW #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/ for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. Its a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that ! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/!
Gain Therapeutics newly-appointed CEO Matthias Alder offers up a deep, yet abundantly clear explanation of how his company is applying compute power to speed up drug discovery. At Gain, computational models help researchers winnow down not just which molecules might have therapeutic effect, but also how adept those molecules will be at binding--and staying bound--to their target. Its not just theory, either. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, Alder shares on how the virtual successes seen on Gains servers have translated in the wet lab, and how theyve contributed to the companys fast-growing preclinical pipeline. Subscribe to the NEW #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/ for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. Its a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that ! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/!
Join Matt Pillar for a conversation with Carine Boustany, PharmD and SVP, US Research Site Head and Global Head of Immunology and Respiratory Diseases at Boehringer Ingelheim. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, we walk through the story leading up to the recent approval of spesolimab. In September 2022, spesolimab was approved in the USA for the treatment of generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP) flares in adults. Dr. Boustany shares the antibodys fortuitous discovery, the challenges her team faced on the path to approval, and how those challenges were overcome. Subscribe to the NEW #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/ for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. Its a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that ! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/!
Recursions unique, technology-aided approach to drug discovery has yielded one of the deepest, fastest-growing pipelines in emerging biotech. It starts with a 20-petabyte-and-growing database designed to create comprehensive "maps of biology" that enable insight into the relationships between molecules and cell types. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, we take a deep dive into the approach—and what Recursion intends to do with all that data—with the companys co-founder and CEO, Chris Gibson, Ph.D. Dont miss this window into the world of a true pioneer in computational biology. Subscribe to the NEW #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/ for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. Its a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that ! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/!
Friend and frequent guest Allan Shaw rejoins the Business of Biotech to reflect on his recent presentation on innovative biotech financing at the BioFuture https://biofuture.com/ event in NYC. We also dig into Bruce Booths "Atlas Venture Year In Review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LONM9ekseJ4&t=2679s," revisiting and unpacking some quoteworthy material and metrics from both sources. Allan offers up plenty of prognostication and professional insight in a preview of whats to come in 2023, complete with his signature "Allanisms" and colorful analogies. A cant-miss episode as we round the turn to a new year! Subscribe to the NEW #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/ for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. Its a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that ! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/!
While many gene therapy development efforts focus on rare disease, Xalud Therapeutics is taking a swing that, measured in addressable patient market terms, is considerably bigger. Osteoarthritis of the Knee, or OA, is a chronic, progressive joint disease that affects over 30 million people in the United States and over 300 million people worldwide. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, we catch up with Xalud Chief Medical Officer Howard Rutman, M.D., MBA for a discussion on the companys late-stage plasmid DNA gene therapy thats showing promise in OA and other chronic inflammatory conditions. Subscribe to the NEW #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/ for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. Its a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that ! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/!
In an industry that takes new business naming conventions to extremes, Abpro is a refreshingly clear exception. Brothers Ian Chan (CEO & Co-Founder) and Eugene Chan, M.D., (Chairman & Co-Founder) are antibody pros. The companys pipeline spans no fewer than 8 antibody candidates aimed at COVID-19, cancers including breast, gastric, and liver, and ophthalmologic indications DME and wet AMD. With a scientific advisory board led by Bob Langer, Ph.D. of Moderna fame and a new partnership with global powerhouse Celltrion worth a potential $1.75 billion, the companys on the move. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, the Chan brothers take us behind the scenes of Abpros progress. Subscribe to the NEW #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/ for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. Its a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that ! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/!
2023 is just around the corner, and its shaping up to be a big year for Umoja Biopharma. The company is on the leading edge of the effort to break the solid tumor barrier with in vivo CAR T-cell therapies, with one such effort currently enrolling patients for a phase 1 trial. Its planning two more INDs in the coming year. This episode of the Business of Biotech finds us getting the inside story from Umoja Chief Operating Officer David Fontana, whose storied career includes leadership positions at heavyweights including Sanofi, SeaGen, Pfizer, Juno, and BMS. Fontana shares on how he applies his experience playing a lead role in the success of Breyanzi, Adcetris, Bavencio, and Relatlimab in his new role at Umoja, the outsourcing battle scars that motivated the company to build its own 146,000 square foot development and manufacturing facility, and much more. Subscribe to the NEW #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/ for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. Its a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that ! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/!
Nutcracker Therapeutics is a preclinical biopharma company developing multimodal RNA-based therapeutics for HPV-driven tumors, T-cell lymphoma, and Genitourinary tumors. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, Chief Business Officer Geoff Nosrati, Ph.D. offers a comprehensive view of the RNA-based therapeutics landscape and sheds light on what he perceives as an advantageous position at Nutcracker— the capacity to manufacture RNA in-house. If youre curious about the expanding science behind RNA-based therapeutics and their application in biotech, this conversation with a scientist-turned-chief business officer (Nosrati earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) is a cant-miss episode. Subscribe to the NEW #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/ for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. Its a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that ! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/!
Ticks are a scourge. Theyre vectors of multiple serious an debilitating diseases, and evolution has made them perfectly adept at attaching to their hosts—and potentially spreading those diseases virtually undetected— that ability owing to anti-inflammatory and anesthetic proteins in their saliva. But the emerging biotech Akari Therapeutics thinks theres a broad range of medicinal value in those proteins. Theyve painstakingly developed a recombinant version of one such tick saliva-derived protein, called nomacopan, and put it to work in phase 3 trials to treat rare but deadly severe hematopoietic stem cell transplant-related thrombotic microangiopathy (HSCT-TMA). On this weeks episode of the Business of Biotech, Akari President & CEO Rachelle Jacques tells us about the redeeming qualities of tick saliva and how her company is putting it to work. Subscribe to the NEW #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/ for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. Its a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that ! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob https://www9.bioprocessonline.com/business-of-biotech-nl-sign-up/!
Earlier this month, Surface Oncology shared that it will open a second stage of its monotherapy trial of SRF388, an antibody targeting IL-27, on the heels of a promising phase 2 data readout. Shortly before that release, the Business of Biotech caught up with Surfaces CSO Vito Palombella, Ph.D. and CEO Rob Ross, M.D. in the companys Cambridge, MA HQ. We discussed the first-of-its-kind target, the companys "product versus platform" strategy and how it fits in the industrys current "platform" vibe, the finer points of building and maintaining a startup bio culture, the difference between Bob Ross and Rob Ross, M.D., and whole lot more.
MIT-born startup Elicio Therapeutics novel Amphiphile Technology Platform is designed to directly engage the lymphatic system in the deployment and delivery of therapeutic payloads. We caught up with Chief Scientific Officer Peter DeMuth, Ph.D. at Elicio HQ in Boston to learn how the platform works, and how its driving rapid clinical progress for the companys robust pipeline of therapeutic vaccines in oncology, as a cell therapy amplifier in liquid and solid tumor indications, and in prophylactic vaccines for infectious diseases like COVID-19. Dr. DeMuth also shares his journey as a young scientific founder, how hes managed the transition from academic scientist to the C-suite, and how he leans into his scientific training to make a killer home brew.
Anat Binur, Ph.D. is CEO and Co-Founder at Ukko, where shes leading an effort tocreate new allergy therapeutics by engineering the proteins that induce immune response in people who suffer from food allergies. The effort at Ukko is deeply rooted in computational biology. The company leverages artificial intelligence to analyze how the allergen proteins interact with patients blood in an effort to determine the specific attributes of the proteins that trigger immune response. Then, it applies a unique combination of compute power and biology to identify and understand the changes it wants to engineer and predict the best possible designs. Learn how Ukko is fostering a culture of IT and biology collaboration and what lured this dynamic entrepreneur into biopharma on this episode of the Business of Biotech.
In a particularly candid conversation, 4BIO Managing Partner Dmitry ‘Dima’ Kuzmin and Ray Therapeutics Co-Founder & CEO Paul Bresge share the recipe for a successful relationship between biotech VC firm and startup. Bresge offers insight into VC engagement strategy and pitch, Kuzmin dishes on what investors look for in terms of "fundability" and what throws red flags, such as— perhaps ironically— a CEO like Bresge who has a deep and incredibly personal connection to the indication hes pursuing. The pair also discuss, in real and tangible terms, what constitutes a material, cultural match.
AbbVie VP of Oncology Discovery Research Steve Davidsen, Ph.D. is a living, breathing timeline of the companys cancer research and development efforts. He got his start with the company— Abbott at the time— way back in 1986. As such, hes charted the adoption of multiple advanced technologies that have contributed to the realization of dozens of molecular weapons in the fight against cancer. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, Dr. Davidsen shares the latest on AbbVies adoption of computational biology and how its contributing to discovery and development efficiencies, why hes an AbbVie "lifer," how he manages and motivates a large team of research scientists, and a whole lot more.
On this episode of The Business of Biotech, Obsidian Therapeutics CEO Paul Wotton, Ph.D. takes us behind the scenes to reveal what precipitated the FDAs clearance of its IND application for a novel, engineered tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy called OBX-115. Learn how the company navigated the regulatory path for a first-of-its-kind biologic therapy developed in partnership with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center that Dr. Wotton says, should it succeed, will eliminate the patient risk associated with concomitant IL2 therapy and improve clinical outcomes for certain patients with metastatic melanoma. We also get an update on outcomes from Obsidians unique approach to solving COVID-19 challenges covered on episode 9 https://www.bioprocessonline.com/doc/solving-the-covid-workforce-crisis-0001 of the Business of Biotech.
Heres the story of BioStem, its young founders, and how they reached commercial status in short order with a portfolio of proprietary regenerative wound care products developed from perinatal tissue. Fueled by a personal story of resilience and inspiration, Jason Matuszewski (CEO) and Andrew VanVurst (COO) built a company thats developed a local microenvironment activation platform drawing on a combination of small molecules, cytokines, and growth factors to promote tissue repair and regrowth. The companys internal development and cGMP manufacturing facilities have already yielded three approved products poised to change the paradigm for diabetic, traumatic, and other wound care.
Using computational biology to hasten the effort, Omega Therapeutics plan is to "coopt natures universal biological operating system for gene control and cell differentiation." On this episode of the Business of Biotech, we dig into exactly what that means. We also explore the companys preclinical ambitions, which are diverse, targeting regenerative, multigenic/immunologic, oncologic, and monogenic indications. Omega is leaning heavily into computational biology along the way, having mapped what CEO Mahesh Karande characterizes as 95% of the IGD landscape. Learn how Karande intends to maintain momentum on this episode of the Business of Biotech.
Under the leadership of Mai-Britt Zocca, Ph.D., IO Biotech is advancing novel, immune-modulating cancer therapies targeting IDO (indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase). Though promising, the target fell out of favor after some high-profile misses – most notably Mercks Phase 3 failure with pembrolizumab in 2018. But Immunomes dual mechanism of action is renewing interest in the target, and Dr. Zocca is gaining confidence as the companys data grows. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, she shares the approach, how it differs from previous attempts, and how her company is working to advance its programs in the wake of IDOs fall from grace.
With a unique multi-target approach, what it considers the worlds best adjuvant, and a host of learnings from the successes and failures of COVID-19 vaccine efforts, Longhorn Therapeutics is gaining steam in its pursuit of a universal influenza vaccine. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, Longhorn Vaccines & Diagnostics Co-Founder and President Jeff Fischer gives us a transparent look at the science and the partnerships that are giving him cause to believe his company will succeed where so many have failed.
Lisa Deschamps story is one of determination and fortitude. She got her start in the life sciences where it begins and ends for many— "carrying the bag" in big pharma sales—then proceeded to crush the odds on her way to the C-suite at Novartis. Today, shes CEO at AviadoBio, a disruptive gene therapy startup prepping an intra-thalamic Frontotemporal Dementia candidate for the clinic with a heavy Series A in its hip pocket. On this episode of the Business of Biotech we get to know Lisa, her company and its therapeutic approach, her advocacy for genetic testing, and how shes applying her determination and fortitude to enabling more women to become life science leaders.
