The Business Of Biotech Podcast

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. Commercial Readiness with ImmunityBio's Bobby Reddy, M.D. 4/14/2024

   This episode of the Business of Biotech begins with a personal story about my dad and the standard of care in bladder cancer, before shifting to the work that Dr. Bobby Reddy and his team at ImmunityBio are doing to change that standard of care. They're painfully close. Dr. Reddy, Chief Medical Officer at ImmunityBio, gives us a long look behind the curtain at the commercial preparations the company is making as its lead Phase 3 candidate, Anktiva, nears the goal line in non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). 

4. Precision Drug Delivery with Ampersand Biomedicines' Jason Gardner, Ph.D. 4/10/2024

   Ampersand Biomedicines CEO Jason Gardner, Ph.D. first took the leap from a global pharmaceutical giant to a startup at the forefront of transplant medicine innovation. Since that time, he's seen most of the ups and the downs that come with biotech leadership, and in his latest venture with the Flagship Pioneering-backed Ampersand, he's putting all those hard-fought lessons to good use.

5. Funding Alzheimer's Tx Dev with ADDF's Karen Harris 3/31/2024

   We've really been looking forward to dropping this episode with Karen Harris, Chief Financial Officer and Head of Mission-Related Investing at the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation. While the markets have warmed a bit since we recorded this episode, Karen's thoughtful perspective on the sometimes tumultuous Alzheimer's therapeutics space is valuable to any drug developer working in the cognitive medicines arena.

6. The AI Impact with Generate:Biomedicines' Mike Nally 3/24/2024

   Few drug discovery and development concepts are as hyped, and as such, draw as much polarity from drug developers, as machine learning and artificial intelligence. One company on the bullish end of the spectrum is Flagship Pioneering's Generate: Biomedicines, which bills itself at the "intersection of machine learning, biological engineering, and medicine."

7. Strategic Deals With CinRx's Gavin Samuels, M.D. 3/17/2024

   Gavin Samuels, M.D., found his work as an intensive care physician boring. It wasn't until he left the hospital and entered biopharma that he found his footing. Now, he's Chief Business Officer and General Partner at CinRx Pharma, where a deep pipeline of early- to late-stage candidates keeps him on his dealmaking toes. Dr. Samuels' introspective reflections on biotech dealmaking and negotiations plants this episode firmly on the Business of Biotech podcast highlight reel.

8. Serial Success With Triumvira's Rob Williamson 3/10/2024

   Rob Williamson's mind and hands have shaped more than 20 biotech startups, leading some to IPO and landing others firmly in Big Bio through acquisition by companies like Merck. Learn secrets to his serial success on this week's Business of Biotech podcast.

9. The Innovator's Dilemma with Lumen Bioscience's Brian Finrow, J.D. 3/4/2024

   In biotech, when "one of these things doesn't look like the other one," it can be a blessing or a curse. On one hand, scientific novelty is praised and rewarded. On the other, unfamiliarity breeds skepticism from the investment community. Brian Finrow, J.D. embraces that reality and the challenges that come with it.

10. Precision Radiopharmaceuticals with Ratio's Jack Hoppin, Ph.D. 2/21/2024

    Multimodal approaches to the delivery of radiologically active compounds have created a fertile environment for players in the space to put on a precision medicine clinic, so to speak. What’s more, Radiopharmaceuticals create a unique business opportunity given the closely related and necessary companion diagnostic arena.