WIB’s top execs discuss how the group is faring in the midst of two world-transforming events: the Covid-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protest.

Osivax is developing universal vaccines for influenza, coronaviruses, and other infectious diseases such as malaria and human papillomavirus (HPV). Preclinical studies also have started on a coronavirus vaccine, which would include Covid-19.

“In a sense, the Covid association was a golden opportunity for our drug,” says Rachel Leheny, CEO of CalciMedica, a pharma focused on anti-inflammatories for pancreatitis that has now shifted to treatments for Covid-19 pneumonia.

CEO Tim Walbert talks about how his company, Horizon Therapeutics, has gone from acquiring commercial drugs and remarketing them to using their R&D to focus more on bio-based medicines such as monoclonal antibodies and genetically engineered proteins.

An interview with Arda Ural, Ph.D., who leads the life sciences team at Ernst & Young, which is tracking biopharma’s readiness and reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cidara Therapeutics is training its novel treatment and preventative for flu and other viral infections on Covid-19.

Equillium is keeping a close eye on the COVID-19 challenge, but sticking to acute GVHD, uncontrolled asthma, and lupus nephritis as primary inflammation targets.

ViralClear, formed in March 2020 to obtain a drug whose potential use against COVID-19 already has substantial support in evidence. The company is employing considerable industry expertise to move it into clinical development.

Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals is continuing clinical programs during the COVID-19 challenge and advancing novel approaches to cancer, inflammation, and viruses.

Challenge breeds creativity, and a fresh example of that has emerged in Germany’s Ruhr Valley, with the company Abalos Therapeutics and the unique funding model that supported its launch.

Argenx is developing new antibody therapeutics for immunological diseases in the neuromuscular, hematology, oncology, and other areas. The company has a full pipeline of candidates and indications.

This 10-person startup in San Diego is aiming for muscle-spasm relief without sedation in a purified drug.

Started in 2017, Eikonizo Therapeutics has led an uphill battle to getting funding for its pipeline that includes drugs for ALS and Alzheimer’s, among other neurodegenerative diseases.

This unlikely CEO’s experience offers some valuable lessons in founding and scaling up a biotech company, particularly one in a nascent space such as regenerative medicine.