Discovery/R&D

81. TCRs In Personalized Oncology With BlueSphere Bio's Keir LoIacono 3/12/2023

    Among a growing cluster of Pittsburgh biotechs, you'll find BlueSphere Bio, an early-stage company discovering T-cell receptors to leverage against tumor-specific antigens in individual cancer patients. Its leader, CEO Keir LoIacono, Esq., works with a sense of urgency inspired by his own cancer journey. Business of Biotech host Matt Pillar and guest co-host Jon O'Connell, executive editor at Bioprocess Online, toured Bluesphere's state-of-the-art facility perched on the bank of the Monongahela River. Then, we sat down with Loiacono to learn his story and discuss the company's vision for the future of personalized, adoptive cell therapy.

82. 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.

83. 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.

84. 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.

85. The Editors' Roundtable: A Midyear Look At The 2026 Life Sciences Industry 6/5/2026

    On this week's episode of the Business of Biotech, Tyler Menichiello, chief editor at Bioprocess Online, host of the Better Biopharma podcast, and my Life Science Connect (LSC) colleague, convenes the broader LSC editorial team once again for a midyear discussion on what's happening now in the life sciences industry, and what's to come in the second half of the year.

86. Improving Cardiovascular Outcomes With Immediate Therapeutics' Atul Deshpande, Ph.D. 8/27/2025

    On this week's Business Of Biotech 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.

87. Pyxis Oncology's Lara Sullivan, M.D. On Site-Specific ADCs And Change Management 6/20/2022

    To fully appreciate the work Pyxis Oncology is doing in its development of site-specific ADCs for a number of oncological indications under the leadership of Lara Sullivan, M.D., you need to understand the work that shaped her leadership style. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, Dr. Sullivan shares the science and technology driving progress at Pyxis, but she also serves up a master class on change management, honed during her tenure managing high-stakes product portfolios at Pfizer. If you want to be a better leader, don't miss this one.

88. Epigenomic Programming With Omega Therapeutics' Mahesh Karande 9/21/2022

    Using computational biology to hasten the effort, Omega Therapeutics' plan is to "coopt nature's universal biological operating system for gene control and cell differentiation." On this episode of the Business of Biotech, we dig into exactly what that means. We also explore the company's preclinical ambitions, which are diverse, targeting regenerative, multigenic/immunologic, oncologic, and monogenic indications. Omega is leaning heavily into computational biology along the way, having mapped what CEO Mahesh Karande characterizes as 95% of the IGD landscape. Learn how Karande intends to maintain momentum on this episode of the Business of Biotech.

89. RNA Sandbox with Johns Hopkins RNA Innovation Center's Jeff Coller, Ph.D. and Michelle Kim, Ph.D. 1/12/2025

    In close partnership with Johns Hopkins and TriLink BioTechnologies, Jeff Coller, Ph.D. and Michelle Kim, Ph.D. have built a sandbox for RNA developers and aspirational RNA business builders to play in. On this week's episode of the Business of Biotech, we team up once again with Advancing RNA's Anna Rose Welch to learn about the venture, dubbed the Johns Hopkins University RNA Innovation Center.

90. A Vaccine For Type 1 Diabetes With Diamyd Medical's Dr. Ulf Hannelius 7/19/2021

    As leaders at Diamyd Medical made plans to manufacture clinical supply of therapies aimed at preserving and restoring insulin production in Type 1 diabetes patients, outsourced production was on the table. Then, the company doubled down on its intentions and built out its own manufacturing facility. On this week's episode of The Business of Biotech, Diamyd Medical President & CEO Dr. Ulf Hannelius tells us all about the therapies his company is developing, plus the why and the how behind the company's choice to manufacture them in-house.