Discovery/R&D

1. AI-Driven Biologics With Fountain Therapeutics' William Greene, M.D 2/28/2022

   With its hypothesis-free, target-free, AI-driven drug discovery platform, Fountain Therapeutics is turning the traditional drug discovery pathway on its ear to address a variety of age-related disease. On this week's episode of the Business of Biotech, Fountain CEO William Greene, M.D. joins us to discuss the approach, its rationale, and how the company is applying substantial support from the likes of Eli Lilly, Alexandria Venture Investments, R42 Group, Khosla Ventures, and Nan Fung Life Sciences.

2. Emerging From Stealth With Vima Therapeutics' Bernard Ravina, M.D. 10/31/2025

   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.

3. IDO Target Perseverence With IO Biotech's Mai-Britt Zocca, Ph.D. 9/13/2022

   Under the leadership of Mai-Britt Zocca, Ph.D., IO Biotech is advancing novel, immune-modulating cancer therapies targeting IDO (indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase). Though promising, the target fell out of favor after some high-profile misses – most notably Merck's Phase 3 failure with pembrolizumab in 2018. But Immunome's dual mechanism of action is renewing interest in the target, and Dr. Zocca is gaining confidence as the company's data grows. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, she shares the approach, how it differs from previous attempts, and how her company is working to advance its programs in the wake of IDO's fall from grace.

4. Leading A tRNA Startup With Alltrna's Michelle Werner 5/14/2025

   On this week's Business of Biotech, Michelle Werner, CEO at Alltrna, talks transfer RNA (tRNA) therapy with host Ben Comer and guest co-host Anna Rose Welch, editorial and community director at Advancing RNA. Werner explains why a single engineered tRNA therapy has the potential to treat "hundreds, if not thousands," of rare genetic diseases, and how her own child's rare disease diagnosis shaped her career and approach to drug development. Werner also discusses Alltrna's use of AI and machine learning for drug optimization, the company's planned use of basket trials, and more.

5. Pioneering Antiviral Conjugates With Cidara's Dr. Jeff Stein 3/1/2021

   Cidara Therapeutics President and CEO Dr. Jeff Stein joins the Business of Biotech to discuss his career mission to battle microbial organisms and his company's development of a novel approach to producing immunotherapeutic antivirals that couple potent antivirals to a human antibody fragment. We discuss the company's manufacturing approach, which Dr. Stein anticipates yielding a low-cost alternative to standards of care in multiple antiviral indications.

6. Building A DNA Delivery System With Poseida Tx CEO Eric Ostertag, M.D., Ph.D. 9/27/2021

   Eric Ostertag, M.D., Ph.D., wanted to launch a biotech. When University of Pennsylvania department heads said no to a licensing deal for lack of a CEO, Dr. Ostertag convinced them he could run the company. Many bold moves later, Dr. Ostertag is founder and CEO at Poseida Therapeutics, a company that's doing things never seen before in the field of CAR T-cell and gene therapies for multiple myeloma and prostate cancer. On this week's episode of The Business of Biotech, Dr. Ostertag gives us a tour of the architecture supporting Poseida's unique 3-tiered development and manufacturing platform.

7. Real-Time Clinical Analysis With Glympse Bio's Dr. Caroline Loew 6/1/2021

   On this episode of the Business of Biotech, we're going deep with Glympse Bio President & CEO Dr. Caroline Loew to explore the possibilities and implications of the in-vivo, bioengineered, tunable sensors the company is developing for diagnostic and prognostic purposes in protease-mediates diseases. Currently in the clinic with applications for Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis and other fibrotic diseases as well as Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and other solid tumors, Glympse is unlocking an unprecedented view of near-real-time therapeutic response and therapeutic efficacy that could have big implications on the way biologics are developed, refined, and studied in the clinic.

8. Arrowhead Pharma Pres. & CEO Dr. Christopher Anzalone On Taking RNA Interference Beyond The Liver 8/13/2020

   Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals leader Christopher Anzalone, Ph.D. gives us the inside story on the stake his company claimed on the now re-burgeoning RNAi space, the indications his company is targeting beyond liver disease, and how it's addressing the development and process challenges that must be overcome to further progress RNAi beyond the liver.

9. Building An Efficient Biopharma With South Rampart Pharma's Hernan Bazan, M.D. 7/16/2025

   On this week's Business of Biotech, 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.

10. Med Device Meets Biopharma With OncoSec's Dan O'Connor, J.D. 5/17/2021

    OncoSec CEO & Director Dan O'Connor, J.D. joins the Business of Biotech to discuss his company's development of proprietary application and injection technologies for direct delivery of its pipeline of immunotherapeutic candidates and combination therapies into the tumor environment. O'Connor shares leadership lessons gleaned from his service as a Captain in the United States Marine Corps during Operation Desert Shield, and how he's applied those lessons as his company charts the manufacturing and regulatory challenges along its unique development timeline.