Discovery/R&D

1. Pyxis Oncology's Lara Sullivan, M.D. On Site-Specific ADCs And Change Management 6/20/2022

   To fully appreciate the work Pyxis Oncology is doing in its development of site-specific ADCs for a number of oncological indications under the leadership of Lara Sullivan, M.D., you need to understand the work that shaped her leadership style. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, Dr. Sullivan shares the science and technology driving progress at Pyxis, but she also serves up a master class on change management, honed during her tenure managing high-stakes product portfolios at Pfizer. If you want to be a better leader, don't miss this one.

2. Intranasal Prophylactics For Flu & Coronavirus With Leyden Labs' Koenraad Wiedhaup 8/2/2021

   As Leyden Labs Founder & CEO Koenraad Wiedhaup puts it, we breathe in galaxies of viruses on a daily basis. As those viruses multiply and mutate, our approach to mitigating their risks is largely reactive. That's why his new company is busy developing a prophylactic approach to protecting populations from a host of influenza and coronaviruses via a self-administered intranasal spray. Learn how the company came to be, how its development efforts were buoyed by a recent $40 million series A investment, and why Wiedhaup believes intranasal prophylactics are ready to play a role in prevention of the next pandemic on this episode of the Business of Biotech podcast.

3. Commensal Viral Vectors With Ring Therapeutics' Tuyen Ong, M.D. 4/12/2022

   When Tuyen Ong was a child, he and his family escaped Vietnam by boat in the dead of the night, bound for an Indonesian refugee camp. They spent a year in that camp before emigrating to the U.K., where Ong’s underprivileged adolescence found him growing up in the projects of London. Against the odds, Ong worked his way to UCL for an education that culminated with an M.D. Today, he’s CEO of Ring Therapeutics, a promising emerging biotech backed by Flagship Pioneering, the kingmaker behind the rise of Moderna. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, Ong shares on his challenging formative years, the unspoken love between a father and son, facing down racism as a poor Chinese kid in Vietnam and London, and how those experiences shape his leadership at Ring. Oh, and we talk about some pretty cool science, too.

4. 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.

5. The AI Impact with Generate:Biomedicines' Mike Nally 3/24/2024

   Few drug discovery and development concepts are as hyped, and as such, draw as much polarity from drug developers, as machine learning and artificial intelligence. One company on the bullish end of the spectrum is Flagship Pioneering's Generate: Biomedicines, which bills itself at the "intersection of machine learning, biological engineering, and medicine."

6. 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!

7. The AAV Vector Challenge With Selecta's Dr. Carsten Brunn 1/12/2021

   The Business of Biotech kicks off our Cell & Gene Miniseries with Dr. Carsten Brunn, President & CEO at Selecta Biosciences. Guest host Erin Harris, chief editor at cellandgene.com, joins us for a discussion on Selecta's ImmTOR platform and how the company is addressing the immunogenicity of adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors challenge faced by gene therapy companies.

8. Oncology Discovery Advances With AbbVie's Steve Davidsen, Ph.D. 10/25/2022

   AbbVie VP of Oncology Discovery Research Steve Davidsen, Ph.D. is a living, breathing timeline of the company's cancer research and development efforts. He got his start with the company— Abbott at the time— way back in 1986. As such, he's 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 AbbVie's adoption of computational biology and how it's contributing to discovery and development efficiencies, why he's an AbbVie "lifer," how he manages and motivates a large team of research scientists, and a whole lot more.

9. 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.

10. mRNA Vaccine Platforms With Combined Therapeutics' Dr. Romain Micol 11/29/2023

    Combined Therapeutics President & CEO Dr. Romain Micol is operating his company in a very noisy space, where hundreds of new biotechs have popped up on the coattails of a COVID-driven renewal of interest in mRNA vaccines. Micol recognizes that noise and the competition it brings for capital and mindshare.