Finance & Capital Markets

41. Funding A Neurodegeneration Startup With Coya Therapeutics' Howard Berman 5/10/2023

    Like many of us, Howard Berman, Ph.D. has personal experience with the tragedy of cognitive decline. Neurodegenerative disorders are on the rise, and when one afflicted his father — a triple board-certified physician — he saw firsthand that they don't discriminate. Berman has dedicated his career to addressing neuro, autoimmune, and metabolic diseases, having founded Nicoya Health in 2020 and overseeing its merger with Coya Therapeutics the following year. The company came out of the gates this year fueled by an 11th-hour 2022 IPO, one of just a dozen on the year. Berman joined the Business of Biotech to share his strategy during a stingy stretch in biotech capital markets. 

42. The Implications Of China's Growing Biotech Industry With Allan Shaw 4/16/2025

    Business of Biotech MVP Allan Shaw is back to talk about the rise of China's biotech sector, and its evolution from fast follower to global innovation powerhouse.

43. Big Pharma Insights For Building Biotech Startups With Uniquity Bio's Brian Lortie 4/24/2025

    On this episode of the Business of Biotech, host Ben Comer speaks with Brian Lortie, President and CEO of Uniquity Bio, about his "no jerk" policy and how his experience building teams at GSK, Endo Pharmaceuticals, and Onspira Therapeutics informs his leadership at Uniquity, a clinical-stage immunology startup backed by Blackstone Life Sciences.

44. Mission-Driven Dementia Funding with DDF's Jonathan Behr 6/9/2024

    If there's anyone qualified to analyze an early-stage therapeutic technology and place bets with other people's money, it's scientist-turned-venture capitalist Jonathan Behr, Ph.D. He built a distinguished venture capital career on the back of an MIT Ph.D. in biological engineering, having co-founded no fewer than 7 life sciences companies, served on or observed the boards of at least 17, and led investments at Pure Tech Ventures, the JDRF T1D Fund, SV Health investors, and now, the Dementia Discovery Fund, where he's a partner.

45. Pivoting To RNA With Circio's Dr. Erik Digman Wiklund 9/1/2024

    This week, it’s another “Business of Biotech-meets-Business-of-RNA” takeover with Circio CEO Erik Digman Wiklund, Ph.D. and guest co-host Anna Rose Welch of Advancing RNA. While Circio’s legacy is in cancer immunology (it still boasts a cancer vaccine candidate targeting KRAS driver mutations), the company made a bold pivot, of sorts, when it committed headlong to the circular RNA future. Now, it’s in the throes of fine-tuning a platform for the development of novel circRNA medicines for rare disease, vaccines, and cancer.

46. Funding Alzheimer's Tx Dev with ADDF's Karen Harris 3/31/2024

    We've really been looking forward to dropping this episode with Karen Harris, Chief Financial Officer and Head of Mission-Related Investing at the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation. While the markets have warmed a bit since we recorded this episode, Karen's thoughtful perspective on the sometimes tumultuous Alzheimer's therapeutics space is valuable to any drug developer working in the cognitive medicines arena.

47. Risk Mitigation With MeiraGTx's Zandy Forbes, Ph.D. 12/30/2024

    Zandy Forbes, Ph.D., combines science and finance expertise to manage biotech risk. With a Ph.D. from Oxford, a postdoc fellowship, and over a decade as a Wall Street healthcare investor, she now leads Meira GTx as President & CEO. On Business of Biotech, she discusses how her investment experience informs her approach to biotech leadership.

48. Biotech Dealmaking with Regeneron's Nouhad Husseini 11/22/2023

    When it comes to landing and executing strategic partnerships, Regeneron puts on a clinic. Partnerships, acquisitions, licensing agreements, and other deals large and small with Intellia, Decibel Therapeutics, BARDA, Alnylam, and Sonoma Therapeutics are just a sampling of those making news this year alone. The man behind much of that dealmaking is none other than Nouhad Husseini, SVP and Head of Business Development and Corporate Strategy at Regeneron.

49. Building A Biotech Incubator And Accelerator With Swiss Rockets Founder And CEO Vladimir Cmiljanovic, Ph.D. 8/21/2025

    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.

50. Episode 3: The Biopharma Exit Strategy With Dr. Francois Nader 8/13/2020

    Every new, emerging biopharma company shares a common goal: creating value for its employees, its board, its investors, and ultimately, patients. Along the way, that value creating might get a boost from an IPO, a merger, an acquisition, or steady growth as a private entity. On this episode of The Business Of Biotech, we talk with Dr. Francois Nader—a man who's orchestrated several wildly successful biotech exits—about why it's imperative to begin with the end in mind, and how to navigate your options when the time is right.