Finance & Capital Markets

1. Athersys' Ivor Macleod On Bringing Big-League Financial Experience To An Emerging Biotech 8/13/2020

   The Business Of Biotech "Summer Executive Sessions" kick off with a candid conversation with Athersys CFO Ivor Macleod, who brings years of finance leadership at Roche, Merck, and other big pharmas to Athersys as the company readies its lead candidate for life beyond clinical trials. Join us for a discussion on how Macleod is applying big-league finance principles to an emerging biopharma company, and what he's learned about managing funds in a pre-commercial biotech environment.

2. Big Pharma Insights For Building Biotech Startups With Uniquity Bio's Brian Lortie 4/24/2025

   On this episode of the Business of Biotech, host Ben Comer speaks with Brian Lortie, President and CEO of Uniquity Bio, about his "no jerk" policy and how his experience building teams at GSK, Endo Pharmaceuticals, and Onspira Therapeutics informs his leadership at Uniquity, a clinical-stage immunology startup backed by Blackstone Life Sciences.

3. BoB@JPM: Nima Farzan, Latigo Biotherapeutics 3/19/2025

   In this final installment of our episodes recorded and filmed on-site at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, Nima Farzan, CEO of Latigo Biotherapeutics, shares his company's mission to change the pain management paradigm by way of novel, non-opioid medications that target NAV 1.8 sodium channels involved in pain signal transmission.

4. Biotech Story Time With Tal Zaks, M.D. (Part 2) 1/5/2025

   Dr. Tal Zaks joins the Business of Biotech for the second part of "Story Time With Tal," discussing his transition from Moderna's CMO during the COVID-19 pandemic to co-founding Exsilio Therapeutics, an mRNA startup. The episode explores Exsilio's foundation, scientific focus, team recruitment, and its $82 million Series A funding led by Novartis Venture Fund and Delos Capital, with support from prominent investors like OrbiMed, CRISPR Therapeutics, and J.P. Morgan Life Sciences Private Capital.

5. Funding A Neurodegeneration Startup With Coya Therapeutics' Howard Berman 5/10/2023

   Like many of us, Howard Berman, Ph.D. has personal experience with the tragedy of cognitive decline. Neurodegenerative disorders are on the rise, and when one afflicted his father — a triple board-certified physician — he saw firsthand that they don't discriminate. Berman has dedicated his career to addressing neuro, autoimmune, and metabolic diseases, having founded Nicoya Health in 2020 and overseeing its merger with Coya Therapeutics the following year. The company came out of the gates this year fueled by an 11th-hour 2022 IPO, one of just a dozen on the year. Berman joined the Business of Biotech to share his strategy during a stingy stretch in biotech capital markets. 

6. BoB@JPM: Post-IPO With Bolt Biotherapeutics' Drs. Randall Schatzman and Edith Perez 2/19/2023

   Bolt Biotherapeutics CEO Randall Schatzman, Ph.D. and CMO Edith Perez, M.D. are no strangers to the Business of Biotech, having previously joined us on episodes 14 and 18, respectively. The last time we spoke with Dr. Schatzman, he was preparing the company for its initial public offering. We caught up with him and Dr. Perez at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco last month for a conversation on the IPO process, the impacts it's had on the go-forward plan at Bolt Bio, the company's clinical progress, and its collaboration strategy moving forward. 

7. Embracing Biotech Chaos With Memo's Erik van den Berg 9/8/2024

   Erik van den Berg is CEO and board member at Memo Therapeutics, and he's a student of biotech chaos. In fact, he's been embracing it with intention for the past 30 years. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, he walks us through the management of that chaos in specific detail.

8. CAR T Therapy Cost Control With Laurence Cooper, M.D., Ph.D. 10/26/2020

   Controlling the cost of personalized medicine: We go behind the scenes of the effort to build a system that simplifies production and reduces the cost of non-viral T cell therapies with Ziopharm Oncology CEO Laurence Cooper, M.D., Ph.D.

9. BoB@JPM: Stefan Scherer, M.D., Ph.D., 3T Bioscience 1/29/2025

   From the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, Dr. Stefan Scherer shares insight from 3T Bioscience's transition from clinical medicine to drug development, and his experiences in biotech leadership along the way.

10. Financing Biopharma Innovation With Allan Shaw 12/19/2022

    Friend and frequent guest Allan Shaw rejoins the Business of Biotech to reflect on his recent presentation on innovative biotech financing at the BioFuture event in NYC. We also dig into Bruce Booth's "Atlas Venture Year In Review," revisiting and unpacking some quoteworthy material and metrics from both sources. Allan offers up plenty of prognostication and professional insight in a preview of what's to come in 2023, complete with his signature "Allanisms" and colorful analogies. A can't-miss episode as we round the turn to a new year!