Discovery/R&D

  1. Supercharging An ADC Program With SOTIO CEO Dr. Radek Špíšek 4/12/2021

    SOTIO isn't your typical single-molecule, single-platform biopharma. Since its inception, the company has supported 14 clinical trials of oncology therapeutics developed leveraging multiple platform technologies. On this episode of The Business of Biotech, SOTIO Global CEO Radek Špíšek takes a deep dive into the development, HR, and funding strategies the company has deployed to build its IL-15, immune cell therapy, and antibody-drug conjugate candidates.

  2. Tick-Derived Therapeutic Molecules With Akari Therapeutics' Rachelle Jacques 11/14/2022

    Ticks are a scourge. They're vectors of multiple serious and debilitating diseases, and evolution has made them perfectly adept at attaching to their hosts—and potentially spreading those diseases virtually undetected— that ability owing to anti-inflammatory and anesthetic proteins in their saliva. But the emerging biotech Akari Therapeutics thinks there's a broad range of medicinal value in those proteins. They've painstakingly developed a recombinant version of one such tick saliva-derived protein, called nomacopan, and put it to work in phase 3 trials to treat rare but deadly severe hematopoietic stem cell transplant-related thrombotic microangiopathy (HSCT-TMA). On this week's episode of the Business of Biotech, Akari President & CEO Rachelle Jacques tells us about the redeeming qualities of tick saliva and how her company is putting it to work.

  3. Don't Be A D**k With Ochre Bio's Dr. Quin Wills 9/27/2023

    Don't be offended by the title of today's Business of Biotech podcast. Dr. Quin Wills' application of what's become known as "Wheaton's Law" (look it up) is central to the ambitious goals his company, Ochre Bio, is pursuing: pioneering the value of computational biology in large mol discovery and development, putting an end to the global liver disease epidemic, and changing the costly, high-risk approach to clinical trials. On this week's episode, Dr. Wills and I explore how those goals are being addressed despite the challenges they present, and how the company's three guiding principles, don't be a d**k being one of them, align the Ochre team with the mission at hand. 

  4. 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.

  5. Cannabinoid And Psychedelic Combinations With Incannex Healthcare's Joel Latham 9/19/2025

    On this week's Business Of Biotech 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.

  6. Intranasal Prophylactics For Flu & Coronavirus With Leyden Labs' Koenraad Wiedhaup 8/2/2021

    As Leyden Labs Founder & CEO Koenraad Wiedhaup puts it, we breathe in galaxies of viruses on a daily basis. As those viruses multiply and mutate, our approach to mitigating their risks is largely reactive. That's why his new company is busy developing a prophylactic approach to protecting populations from a host of influenza and coronaviruses via a self-administered intranasal spray. Learn how the company came to be, how its development efforts were buoyed by a recent $40 million series A investment, and why Wiedhaup believes intranasal prophylactics are ready to play a role in prevention of the next pandemic on this episode of the Business of Biotech podcast.

  7. The Face Of African Biotech with Adrienne Leussa, Ph.D. 6/7/2023

    Dr. Adrienne Leussa is one of our favorite follows. If the booming biotech scene on an incredibly diverse continent of 1.2 billion people interests you, she should be one of your faves, too.

  8. Genomically-Guided Medicine with Elevation Oncology's Shawn Leland, PharmD, RPh 12/13/2021

    Elevation Oncology is taking a new approach to leveraging the genome to guide development of its precision therapeutic development efforts. Its first step is improving both the accuracy of and accessibility to genomic testing for cancer patients. In tandem, the company is in the clinic with its lead candidate seribantumab for cancer patients with a solid tumor of any origin that expresses a genomic change called an NRG1 fusion. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, Founder & CEO Shawn Leland, PharmD, RPh takes us inside the company's unique approach. 

  9. Population-Level Health Impact With Vaxxinity's John Krayacich 6/14/2023

    Vaxxinity’s John Krayacich likes taking big swings and big indications. He’s played key roles on the teams that launched Lipitor, Lyrica, and Neurontin, which have had measurable impacts on global populations of people suffering from cardiovascular disease, CNS disorders, and pain. He found those opportunities at companies like LEO, Novartis, Parke Davis, and Pfizer. Now, Krayacich is taking big swings at a new set of incredibly challenging candidates—immunotherapeutic vaccines for neurodegenerative and chronic diseases like Alzheimer’s, Dementia with Lewy Bodies, Multiple System Atrophy, Parkinson’s, Migraine, and Hypercholesterolemia. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, the Chief Business Officer shares his inspiration and strategy for seeing therapeutics for big, global patient populations through the commercial finish line.

  10. Democratizing Biologics With Lumen Bioscience's Brian Finrow, J.D. & Craig Behnke, Ph.D. 12/1/2021

    Making powerful and curative biologic therapies accessible to patients from all walks of life, and all corners of the globe, requires radically innovative thinking. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, Lumen Bioscience's Co-Founder and CEO Brian Finrow, J.D. and EVP of Production/Development Craig Behnke, Ph.D. discuss a novel approach: developing therapeutic proteins from readily-available food algae spirulina. It's driving a diverse pipeline of candidates into the clinic, for indications reaching from the gut to the heart and lungs.