Business Of Biotech

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. On this week's episode of the Business of Biotech, we're speaking with Bernard Ravina, M.D., CEO at Vima Therapeutics, a company that emerged from stealth in May with $60 million Series A financing to develop an oral candidate for dystonia, a movement disorder. Ravina talks about transitioning from government and academic medicine to industry, partnering with Atlas Ventures and defining the company's thesis, the reasons behind working in stealth mode and when to emerge, and the clinical plan and potential for VIM0423.  Access this a...

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. On this week's episode — the last of our four-part series focused on South Florida — we catch up with Rich Daly, CEO at Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, a member of Life Science Leader's editorial advisory board and Miami-based location host for our in-person series. Rich talks about Catalyst's rare disease strategy built on operational excellence (including how to select a rare disease special pharmacy), his criteria for selecting de-risked, differentiated, and accretive products for rare diseases, partnering outside the U.S., and what new incentives Florida politicians could create to h...

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. On this week's episode of the Business of Biotech -- part three in a four part series recorded in-person at Catalyst Pharmaceuticals' Miami headquarters -- Anthony Japour, M.D., CEO at iTolerance, talks about his work as a physician treating infectious diseases, his CEO role in diagnostics at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, what he learned working as a medical director at a large CRO, and iTolerance's work toward a cure for Type 1 diabetes that doesn't require chronic immunosuppression. Anthony also provides insights on overcoming...

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. In this week's episode of the Business of Biotech -- part two in a four-part series recorded in-person at Catalyst Pharmaceuticals' Miami headquarters -- we're speaking with Daniel Teper, an entrepreneur and most recently, founder and CEO at NAYA Therapeutics. Based in South Florida, NAYA is developing NK-engaging bifunctional antibodies and Astatine-211 radiopharmaceuticals targeting hepatocellular carcinoma. Daniel discusses the company's decentralized manufacturing strategy, the current funding climate for early-stage companies, his plan to conduct clinical trials in China, and what's unique about the South Florida life...

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. The Business of Biotech is on location in Miami this week! For the first episode in this four-part series on the biotech scene in South Florida, Raquel Cabo, Founder and President of the Miami Biotech Collective, talks about her experiences as a member of the founding team at Ovid Therapeutics, why South Florida needed an organization to connect regional drug developers, what Miami offers to biotech companies and operators, and what gaps in the South Florida life sciences ecosystem still exist.  Access this and h...

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. On this week's episode of the Business of Biotech, Rob Abbott, CEO of ISPOR, explains how startup and early-stage clinical drug development companies benefit from conducting health economics and outcomes research (HEOR), and not just with patients and commercial payers. HEOR, viewed as a strategic lever as opposed to a compliance exercise, can help answer investor questions about market differentiation, pricing pathways, and real world product validation. Abbott talks about the value of cost-of-illness studies, burden-of-disease analyses, and payer landscape assessments, and how AI, real world...

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. On this week's episode, Joel Latham, President and CEO at Incannex Healthcare, talks about developing cannabinoid and psychedelic combination therapies for conditions as diverse as sleep apnea, rheumatoid arthritis, and generalized anxiety disorder. Joel walks through his funding strategy for the publicly-traded company, his desire to lead in a new category of medicine, and what comes next. Access this and hundreds of episodes of the Business of Biotech videocast under the Business of Biotech tab at lifescienceleader.com. S...

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. On this week's episode, Lyle Small, Founder and CEO at Lahjavida, a dye drug conjugate start-up, talks about creating the famous color-changing technology that turned the mountains blue on cold Coors Light beer cans, to launching a dye-drug conjugate startup developing targeted cancer therapies. Small talks through Lahjavida's early preclinical work and the ongoing animal studies he hopes will secure an IND filing by 2027, his experience with scaling up manufacturing of new technologies, and his approach to leadership and company culture.   Access this and hu...

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. On the Business of Biotech this week, Sahir Ali, Ph.D., founder and general partner at Modi Ventures, a family office investing at the intersection of technology and biology, talks about adapting the Markowitz model to improve returns and balance risk, his concept of the "biostack" for making direct investments into life sciences companies, and the revolutionary potential of scientific super intelligence. Ali explains why Houston, Texas is an underrated ecosystem for life sciences, and what AI will mean for medicine and the future of healthcare...

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. On this week's episode, Atul Deshpande, Ph.D., CEO at Immediate Therapeutics, talks about partnering with American cities to conduct clinical trials during ambulance rides to the hospital, with the goal of preserving heart function and reducing mortality related to acute cardiovascular events, including heart attacks. Deshpande reflects on his previous experience developing and commercializing Dupixent at Sanofi, describes the history and mechanism of Immediate's glucose-insulin-potassium (GIK) candidate, IMT-358, and explains why there is more to intellectual property than just patents. Access this and h...

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. On this week's episode, ex-handballer Vladimir Cmiljanovic, Ph.D., Founder and CEO at Swiss Rockets, talks about co-discovering bimiralisib with his sister Natasa Cmiljanovic, Ph.D. (and COO at Swiss Rockets), losing his company to a hostile takeover, buying the company back, and building out Swiss Rockets as an incubator with manufacturing capabilities and shared scientific expertise. Swiss Rockets' portfolio of companies is developing radioligand therapies, vaccines, and cancer treatments, including bimiralisib for actinic keratosis. Cmiljanovic also discusses U.S. expansion plans, partnering, and funding strategies...

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. On this week's episode, Milan Kalawadia, CEO, North America, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, and Arun Swaminathan, Ph.D., CEO, Coya Therapeutics discuss their unique partnership to develop COYA 302, a novel dual-mechanism immunotherapy for the treatment of ALS. The partnership pairs Coya's scientific expertise with Dr. Reddy's manufacturing and commercialization capabilities, putting Coya in a financial position to advance development activities and commercialize COYA 302 upon FDA approval, and providing Dr. Reddy's -- a generics, biosimilars, API, and OTC manufacturer -- with an opportunity to pivot into innovative branded...

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. On this week's episode, Bill Holodnak, Cofounder and CEO of Occam Global, a life sciences executive recruitment firm (and occasional investor), shares insights from his decades of experience pairing executives with drug development companies, and talks about the psychology of successful biotech leadership. From building an advisory board to the sequencing of executive hires, such as CSOs, CMOs, CBOs, and CFOs, as a company grows, Holodnak offers specific tips to help founders and investors create leadership teams capable of winning the "slow motion roulette" business of...

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. On this week's episode, Oury Chetboun, co-founder and CEO of Seekyo, a French biotech, talks about the range of experiences that prepared him to lead a company focused on developing innovative solid tumor treatments that target functional proteins in the tumor micro-environment. Chetboun talks about raising money for preclinical research and navigating the valley of death between research and clinical development, accessing French innovation funding and angel networks, how click chemistry can produce therapies at a lower cost compared to antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), and the potential...

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. On this week's episode, Ebrahim Delpassand, M.D., founder, CEO, and chairman of the board at RadioMedix talks about his personal journey standing up and growing  a radiopharmaceutical company focused on oncology. Dr. Delpassand discusses the current trends in radiopharmaceutical drug development, the differences between alpha- and beta-emitting isotopes, overcoming manufacturing and supply chain challenges and restraints, and building strategic partnerships with companies like Curium, Fusion (now part of AstraZeneca), and Sanofi. He also offers specific advice to physician-entrepreneurs interested in building their own drug development c...

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. On this week's episode, Dr. Hernan Bazan, M.D., co-founder and CEO at New Orleans-based South Rampart Pharma, talks about building an ultra-lean drug development company to address an unmet need observed in his own patients as a surgeon: safe treatments for acute pain. Dr. Bazan explains his strategy for building value through small raises and no full-time salaried employees, co-founding the company with his father -- a scientist and director of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center -- and...

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. 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. This episode of the Business of Biotech is brought to you by Ecolab. ...

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. This week's episode is one from the road, recorded in front of a live audience in Boston's Seaport neighborhood during the BIO conference (special thanks to MasterControl for making it happen). Amber Salzman, Ph.D., CEO of Epicrispr Biotechnologies (aka 'Epic Bio') explains how epigenetic editing is revolutionizing genetic medicine by controlling gene expression, without cutting DNA like traditional CRISPR technologies. Amber talks about FSHD, a progressive muscular dystrophy, how the company raised $68 million in Series B funding despite challenging market conditions, her partnership with Springbok...

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. On this week's episode of the Business of Biotech, Jennifer Hawks Bland, CEO of NewYorkBIO, shares insights on New York State's life sciences ecosystem while reflecting on her journey from Capitol Hill to biotech advocacy. Her experiences in politics, law, and biopharma government affairs uniquely positions her to navigate complex policy challenges while creating opportunities for biotech upstarts across New York and beyond. Jennifer also highlights key programs, capabilities, and funding on offer to early-stage biotech companies.  This episode of the Business of Biotech i...

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. On this week's episode, Barry Quart, CEO of Connect Biopharma, weighs in on the current state of engagement between drug developers and the FDA, and how that key relationship continues to evolve under new leadership. Barry also discusses moving the company from China to San Diego, why a U.S. financial reporting structure helps attract investors, and how Connect is finding the white spaces in respiratory disease -- the company's lead candidate is a biologic drug targeting acute asthma and COPD exacerbations. <p...