Finance & Capital Markets

41. 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.

42. 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. 

43. Anatomy Of A VC Deal With 4BIO's Dima Kuzmin & Ray Therapeutics' Paul Bresge 10/25/2022

    In a particularly candid conversation, 4BIO Managing Partner Dmitry ‘Dima’ Kuzmin and Ray Therapeutics Co-Founder & CEO Paul Bresge share the recipe for a successful relationship between biotech VC firm and startup. Bresge offers insight into VC engagement strategy and pitch, Kuzmin dishes on what investors look for in terms of "fundability" and what throws red flags, such as— perhaps ironically— a CEO like Bresge who has a deep and incredibly personal connection to the indication he's pursuing. The pair also discuss, in real and tangible terms, what constitutes a material, cultural match.

44. The Biotech Beatdown With Allan Shaw 6/6/2022

    On this, the 100th episode of the Business of Biotech podcast, our dear friend, frequent guest, and business of biotech brainiac Allan Shaw joins us to dissect the beleaguered biotech capital markets. We pick apart what's driving sentiment and how we got here, whether the industry is over-inventoried, what's getting funded , what's not, and why, and what biotech leaders should be doing in an investment landscape marked by hyper-discernment. We also reflect on the podcast journey and celebrate the 100-episode milestone!

45. Pivoting To RNA With Circio's Dr. Erik Digman Wiklund 9/1/2024

    This week, it’s another “Business of Biotech-meets-Business-of-RNA” takeover with Circio CEO Erik Digman Wiklund, Ph.D. and guest co-host Anna Rose Welch of Advancing RNA. While Circio’s legacy is in cancer immunology (it still boasts a cancer vaccine candidate targeting KRAS driver mutations), the company made a bold pivot, of sorts, when it committed headlong to the circular RNA future. Now, it’s in the throes of fine-tuning a platform for the development of novel circRNA medicines for rare disease, vaccines, and cancer.

46. 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. 

47. Dr. Randall Schatzman & The New Fundraising Norm 8/23/2020

    Dr. Randy Schatzman, CEO at Bolt Biotherapeutics, discusses how his company has adjusted to pandemic-related disruption on the fundraising trail without missing a beat. He walks us through the remote-fundraising strategy that landed Bolt's recent $93.5 million Series C financing round, and how the company is moving towards an IPO in spite of market, civil, and political tumult. 

48. iNK T-Cell Immuno-oncology For Solid Tumors With Dr. Ian Walters 8/30/2021

    Dr. Ian Walters' company, Portage Biotech, is focused on addressing the 75% of cancer patients who show no, or limited, response to existing therapies such as checkpoint inhibitors. Leading that charge are the company's invariant natural killer T cell agonists, designed to activate the innate and adaptive immune system, as well as a growing portfolio of proteins, antibodies, and small molecules. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, Dr. Walters shares what's fueling the company's progress, including its unique financing strategy and its approach to de-risking platform development for novel immuno-oncology therapies.

49. Fiscal Turnarounds With Protalix's Eyal Rubin 8/30/2023

    Within about five minutes of conversation with Protalix CFO Eyal Rubin, I learned that he doesn’t bite his tongue about the rigors of biotech business and finance management, which is precisely why I’m eager to talk with him on today’s episode of the podcast. From commercialization deals with big pharma to being about $50 million underwater to swatting away the day trading armchair quarterbacks on Stocktwits, Rubin’s seen a few things and he’s developed more than a few opinions.

50. Episode 3: The Biopharma Exit Strategy With Dr. Francois Nader 8/13/2020

    Every new, emerging biopharma company shares a common goal: creating value for its employees, its board, its investors, and ultimately, patients. Along the way, that value creating might get a boost from an IPO, a merger, an acquisition, or steady growth as a private entity. On this episode of The Business Of Biotech, we talk with Dr. Francois Nader—a man who's orchestrated several wildly successful biotech exits—about why it's imperative to begin with the end in mind, and how to navigate your options when the time is right.