Discovery/R&D

1. Engineering Proteins For Food Allergies With Ukko's Dr. Anat Binur 10/25/2022

   Anat Binur, Ph.D. is CEO and Co-Founder at Ukko, where she's leading an effort to create 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.

2. Precision Approach To Infectious Disease With Locus Biosciences' Paul Garofolo 1/13/2022

   Locus Biosciences CEO Paul Garofolo built his biotech leadership career on the back of an MIS degree, having learned the business from the inside out via the tentacles of the IT networks at companies including Genentech, The Broadlane Group, Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Patheon. On today's episode of the Business of Biotech, Garofolo shares how a technologist's approach has helped shape the effort to develop precision therapeutics for infectious diseases at Locus, the company's decision to build its own cGMP manufacturing facility in Research Triangle, and the massive business opportunity the field addresses in the effort to overcome antibiotic resistance.

3. Plant-Based Biologics With iBio's Randy Maddux 2/14/2022

   iBio COO Randy Maddux walks us through the Bryan, Texas-based biopharma's attempt to turn the CHO cell biologic development paradigm on its ear with hydroponically-grown N. benthamiana. His company's FastPharming approach to protein production, he says, could be modularized to speed cycle times and dramatically reduce upstream costs at scales large and small. For its part, iBio is proving out the approach on a host of therapeutic and vaccine candidates for oncological, infectious, and fibrotic diseases.

4. Maximizing mRNA With Precision Nanosystems' James Taylor, Ph.D. 11/8/2021

   Dr. James Taylor believes that genomic medicine will prove the most revolutionary thing the life sciences industries have ever seen, and that it will ultimately become the largest therapeutic class. Dr. Taylor is president and CEO at Precision Nanosystems. He chalks up the genomic nature of biology, the fact that genomes are information-based, the breadth and validation of the genomic medicine toolbox, and the democratization of genomic medicine development as reasons to be bullish. Join Dr. Taylor and me for a conversation on why RNA and DNA delivery are game-changers, and what Precision Nanosystems is doing to push the ball downfield.

5. mRNA Upstarts With Radar Therapeutics' Sophia Lugo and Eerik Kaseniit, Ph.D. 8/25/2024

   Guest co-host Anna Rose Welch of Advancing RNA fame joins us on this week’s Business of Biotech podcast for a conversation with the leaders of RNA upstart Radar Therapeutics. The company’s co-founders, Eerik Kaseniit, Ph.D. (CSO & President) and Sophia Lugo (CEO), are making waves in the mRNA therapeutics space on the heels of the invention of a precision-expressed mRNA technology that laid bare the path to Radar’s inception.

6. IDO Target Perseverence With IO Biotech's Mai-Britt Zocca, Ph.D. 9/13/2022

   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 Merck's Phase 3 failure with pembrolizumab in 2018. But Immunome's dual mechanism of action is renewing interest in the target, and Dr. Zocca is gaining confidence as the company's 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 IDO's fall from grace.

7. Topical Ocular Biologics with Claris Bio's Clarke Atwell 6/30/2024

   Built on the back of hepatocyte growth factor discoveries by Harvard Drs. Reza Dana and Sunil Chauhan, Claris Bio is rewriting the ophthalmology rulebook. CEO Clarke Atwell acknowledges that it's not the first to bring topically-administered biologic therapies to the front of the eye, but if successful in the clinic, its Neurotrophic Keratitis candidate will vastly improve the patient experience. Atwell joins this episode of the Business of Biotech. Listen now!

8. Next-Gen Nanobodies With MoonLake's Jorge Santos Da Silva, Ph.D. 3/27/2023

   The more we learn about inflammation and the complex cause/contributor/symptom roles it plays in various disease states, the more business activity we see in the inflammation therapeutics space. But to date, commercial pharmaceutical and biologic efforts have fallen short for patients, says Moonlake Immunotherapeutics CEO Jorge Santos Da Silva, Ph.D. What's the problem, and why does he think his camelid-derived nanobody candidates are poised to outperform big-pharma standards from the likes of UCB and Novartis? Find out on this week's episode of the Business of Biotech.

9. Genomically-Guided Medicine with Elevation Oncology's Shawn Leland, PharmD, RPh 12/13/2021

   Elevation Oncology is taking a new approach to leveraging the genome to guide development of its precision therapeutic development efforts. Its first step is improving both the accuracy of and accessibility to genomic testing for cancer patients. In tandem, the company is in the clinic with its lead candidate seribantumab for cancer patients with a solid tumor of any origin that expresses a genomic change called an NRG1 fusion. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, Founder & CEO Shawn Leland, PharmD, RPh takes us inside the company's unique approach. 

10. Running Interference: RNAi With Silence Therapeutics' Craig Tooman 5/18/2022

    Fresh on the heels of his appointment as President & CEO at Silence Therapeutics, Craig Tooman joins the Business of Biotech to share how he applies his finance-minded leadership to steward the advance of the company's deepening pipeline of RNAi gene silencing candidates. Tooman also shares insight into the IP and the people responsible for managing that deep pipeline, which spans indications from hematology to cardiovascular disease to rare diseases.