Discovery/R&D

81. Leading A tRNA Startup With Alltrna's Michelle Werner 5/14/2025

    On this week's Business of Biotech, Michelle Werner, CEO at Alltrna, talks transfer RNA (tRNA) therapy with host Ben Comer and guest co-host Anna Rose Welch, editorial and community director at Advancing RNA. Werner explains why a single engineered tRNA therapy has the potential to treat "hundreds, if not thousands," of rare genetic diseases, and how her own child's rare disease diagnosis shaped her career and approach to drug development. Werner also discusses Alltrna's use of AI and machine learning for drug optimization, the company's planned use of basket trials, and more.

82. ML-Enabled Drug Discovery With LabGenius' James Field, Ph.D. 7/6/2023

    We explore the intersection of tech and bio with Dr. James Field, founder and CEO of LabGenius. If you're concerned with what ML will do to — or for — your biopharma business, don't miss this episode

83. Off-The-Shelf CAR T-Cell Therapy? 10/26/2020

    Find out what drove John McKearn, Ph.D. & CEO at Wugen, out of the lab at Pfizer and on to his quest to develop off-the-shelf cell therapies for T-Cell leukemias and lymphomas, Acute Myeloid Leukemia, and Multiple Myeloma.

84. BoB@JPM: Academia To Industry With Oncolytics' Matt Coffey, Ph.D. 2/12/2023

    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 today's 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 company's backstory, and updates us on its aggressive clinical activity spanning 7 wide-ranging oncology programs.

85. 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!

86. A Vaccine For Type 1 Diabetes With Diamyd Medical's Dr. Ulf Hannelius 7/19/2021

    As leaders at Diamyd Medical made plans to manufacture clinical supply of therapies aimed at preserving and restoring insulin production in Type 1 diabetes patients, outsourced production was on the table. Then, the company doubled down on its intentions and built out its own manufacturing facility. On this week's episode of The Business of Biotech, Diamyd Medical President & CEO Dr. Ulf Hannelius tells us all about the therapies his company is developing, plus the why and the how behind the company's choice to manufacture them in-house.

87. The Business And Science Of Obesity With Roger Cone, Ph.D., Founder Of Courage Therapeutics 7/9/2025

    On this week's episode, Roger Cone, Ph.D., Founder and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board at Courage Therapeutics, talks about discovering obesity-related protein receptors in the brain, how he spun his academic discoveries out into a biotech company developing new obesity drugs, the need for obesity treatments with fewer side effects than currently available GLP-1 therapies, and the value of pairing scientific leadership with a strong business partner as CEO.

88. 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.

89. 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.

90. 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.