Discovery/R&D

81. 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.

82. Circular RNA with Orna Therapeutics' Tom Barnes, Ph.D. and Advancing RNA's Anna Rose Welch 4/28/2024

    As if Orna Therapeutics' CEO, Thomas Barnes, isn't enough to draw you in to the Business of Biotech, we teamed up with Advancing RNA Editorial & Community Director Anna Rose Welch to co-host this week's episode. Together, Anna Rose and I press Dr. Barnes on his transition from academia to biotech, the therapeutic proposition of circular, or "O", RNA and why it holds great potential to best linear RNA constructs, the novel, platform- and partnership-based approaches Orna is taking to address B-cell lymphomas and Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, viral vector and lipid nanoparticle complexity, and a whole lot more.

83. 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.

84. RNA-Engineered Cell Therapy With Cartesian's Dr. Murat Kalayoglu 6/10/2021

    Cartesian President & CEO Murat Kalayoglu, M.D., Ph.D. has led three of his company's six autoimmune, oncology, and respiratory candidates through Phase I/II clinical trials and two more of them are on the cusp of entering Phase I this year. With so many programs in and entering the clinic, he's a great choice for a conversation on GMP expectations for phase I first-in-human trials. Glean insight from Cartesian's experiences and learn about the company's novel approach to RNA-engineered cell therapies for oncology and beyond on this episode of The Business of Biotech.

85. Don't Be A D**k With Ochre Bio's Dr. Quin Wills 9/27/2023

    Don't be offended by the title of today's Business of Biotech podcast. Dr. Quin Wills' application of what's become known as "Wheaton's Law" (look it up) is central to the ambitious goals his company, Ochre Bio, is pursuing: pioneering the value of computational biology in large mol discovery and development, putting an end to the global liver disease epidemic, and changing the costly, high-risk approach to clinical trials. On this week's episode, Dr. Wills and I explore how those goals are being addressed despite the challenges they present, and how the company's three guiding principles, don't be a d**k being one of them, align the Ochre team with the mission at hand. 

86. Bio & The Business Of Aging with Life Biosciences' Jerry McLaughlin 9/7/2023

    Core to the clinical-stage biopharma Life Biosciences belief set is that "contrary to popular belief, aging is not caused by random wear and tear, but instead is caused by a discrete set of biological mechanisms that can be targeted therapeutically.”

87. 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.

88. Antibodies For Severe Allergies With IgGenix's Jessica Grossman, M.D. 4/4/2022

    In this wide-ranging discussion, IgGenix CEO Jessica Grossman, M.D. discusses the application of and market opportunity for antibody therapy for severe allergies, the gender gap in the biopharma c-suite, why women work harder than men, what it means to be a female biopharma leader, and IgGenix's approach at isolating and re-engineering allergen-specific IgE antibodies into IgG antibodies designed to alleviate — and possibly prevent — allergic cascade.

89. Physician + Biotech Builder with Tome Biosciences' Rahul Kakkar, M.D. 4/21/2024

    Novel technologies aren’t interesting to Rahul Kakkar, M.D. unless they help patients. Sounds rational, but it’s actually a unique perspective in a platform-crazed biotech industry. Dr. Kakkar’s worldview is shaped by his work as a physician—work he continues at Brigham and Women’s Hospital even as he builds Tome Biosciences, where he serves as President & CEO.

90. 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.