Discovery/R&D

  1. Gene Therapy For Chronic Inflammation With Xalud's Howard Rutman, M.D. 12/12/2022

    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, or OA, is a chronic, progressive joint disease that affects over 30 million people in the United States. 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 company's late-stage plasmid DNA gene therapy that's showing promise in OA and other chronic inflammatory conditions. 

  2. 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.

  3. Modality-Agnostic Drug Discovery With Cullinan Oncology's Nadim Ahmed 1/23/2023

    Call it fortuitous, good planning, instinct, or a combination of all three, but Nadim Ahmed's 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 Oncology's drug discovery efforts, which have yielded a wide range of multi-modal candidates spanning a range of cancer indications. Our discussion digs into the company's 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.

  4. What's A Biologic Revolution? With Vaxxinity's Mei Mei Hu, J.D. 8/8/2022

    Vaxxinity CEO Mei Mei Hu, J.D. leads a company with some lofty ambitions. The democratization of healthcare, interplanetary colonization, and development of accessible therapeutic vaccines to serve and enable both. Those big-picture visions have helped the company establish itself as a pioneer of the "third biologics revolution." On this week's Business of Biotech podcast, Mei Mei joins me to share Vaxxinity's strategy, what "democratization" and "revolution" really_mean, why traditional vaccines and biologic therapies are converging to form the "third biologic revolution," and a whole lot more.

  5. Bio Career Moves With Codagenix's Johanna Kaufmann, Ph.D. 10/11/2023

    On this week's episode of the Business of Biotech, Dr. Johanna Kaufmann gives us an intimate retrospective on her career to date, sharing stories about her rapid ascension from Scientist 1 to executive leadership. We dig into her wild ride through M&A, her time at GSK, and the professional and personal development regimens she subscribes to.

  6. 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. 

  7. The Face Of African Biotech with Adrienne Leussa, Ph.D. 6/7/2023

    Dr. Adrienne Leussa is one of our favorite follows. If the booming biotech scene on an incredibly diverse continent of 1.2 billion people interests you, she should be one of your faves, too.

  8. Genetic Testing & Neurodegenerative Disorders With AviadoBio's Lisa Deschamps 8/29/2022

    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, she's 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 she's applying her determination and fortitude to enabling more women to become life science leaders.

  9. Multimodal R&D Management With Incyte's Jim Lee, M.D., Ph.D. 1/18/2024

    Success at multimodal, multi-indication, deep-pipelined Incyte—where commercial operations are as familiar as pre-discovery activity is—begins at the earliest opportunity to achieve research and discovery efficiencies.

  10. Gynecological Cancer Therapies With Context Therapeutics' Martin Lehr 4/18/2022

    Context Therapeutics Co-Founder & CEO Martin Lehr shares stories from his self-described "recovery from venture capital," the work his company is doing in gynecological cancers, and how his small company manages a modality-agnostic approach and investigator-sponsored trials across multiple clinical candidates, four of which are in phase 2 clinical trials. We also discuss his "extracurricular" work with BioBreak, Life Science Leader, and Life Science Cares, and why those organizations are important to him personally and professionally.