Regulatory
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Dissecting Spesolimab's Approval With Boehringer Ingelheim's Carine Boustany
1/2/2023
Join Matt Pillar for a conversation with Carine Boustany, PharmD, Ph.D. and SVP, US Research Site Head and Global Head of Immunology and Respiratory Diseases at Boehringer Ingelheim. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, we walk through the story leading up to the recent approval of spesolimab. In September 2022, spesolimab was approved in the USA for the treatment of generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP) flares in adults. Dr. Boustany shares the antibody's fortuitous discovery, the challenges her team faced on the path to approval, and how those challenges were overcome.
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An Unanticipated Biotech Startup With OS Therapies' Paul Romness
11/3/2024
Becoming a biotech CEO wasn't on Paul Romness' bingo card. He'd forged his place in the biopharma industry as a foremost public and policy affairs expert. Thirteen years at J&J, more than 5 at Amgen, and half a dozen at Boehringer Ingelheim had earned him the right to coast into a consulting gig that would enable him to finish out his career on his terms. Then his daughter's best friend Olivia, a teenage girl and neighbor he'd watched grow up, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma.
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Steering Through Setbacks with AVEO Oncology's Michael Bailey
8/18/2024
For all the drug commercialization successes he's played a leading hand in during his tenures at GSK, Genentech, and ImClone — Androderm, Augmentin, necitumumab, and Erbitux among them — Michael Bailey concedes that he's likely better known for his failures. After hearing his stories on this episode of the Business of Biotech, I tend to disagree.
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Biotech Story Time With Tal Zaks, M.D. (Part 1)
12/22/2024
Tal Zaks, M.D. was Chief Medical Officer at Moderna before, during, and immediately following the company's headline role during the COVID pandemic. If that doesn't pique your interest about the stories he can tell, this episode of the Business of Biotech surely will. Tune in to the first installment of this two-part episode for insight from the early days of mRNA that you probably haven't heard before.
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Biopolitics With Allan Shaw
11/24/2024
The notion that political influence has no place in biology appears poised for a test it hasn’t studied for. Trump administration nominations, from RFK, Jr. to HHS and Vivek Ramaswamy to the newly-proposed DOGE, are driving speculation over the implications for biotech and other life sciences industries. How should biotech builders be obviating? On the Business of Biotech, we’re joined for some reflection by none other than Allan Shaw.
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What's Next For COVID Vaccines With Tonix Pharmaceuticals' Seth Lederman, M.D.
5/23/2022
As COVID-19 cases climb yet again, the Business of Biotech catches up with Tonix Pharmaceuticals Chairman and CEO Seth Lederman, M.D. for a conversation on his company's multi-pronged strategy to advance vaccine and therapeutic candidates to address the disease and its variants. In addition to sharing on his journey from academia to industry, Dr. Lederman discusses his company's approach to grabbing its share of the highly competitive, and highly lucrative, vaccine market.
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Data Quality & Master Files With Dr. Robert Hariri
9/6/2020
If ever a biotech unwittingly begged for FDA scrutiny by virtue of its business model, it was Celularity. The company is working on a host of biologic therapies, the development of which is dependent on the large-scale collection of stem cells harvested from afterbirth in maternity wards across the globe. That's an approach that simply begs for FDA oversight, which is why Celularity founder Dr. Robert Hariri makes for an excellent discussion on the importance of data quality and complete master files for FDA submissions.
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Commitment To GMP With Dr. Shabbir Anik
9/13/2020
Sutro Biopharma Chief Technical Operations Officer Shabbir Anik has contributed to 15 INDs and 10 NDA’s over the course of his distinguished career, making him a great choice to sit down for a chat about the mechanics of GMP and CMC strategy in new and emerging biopharma enterprises. Here, Dr. Anik shares stories from the front lines of Sutro's effort to move its antibody conjugate, bispecific antibody, and cytokine derivative candidates forward.
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Obesity Tx End-Around With Skye Bioscience's Punit Dhillon
10/20/2024
While the trend toward CB1 inhibition for obesity took a small hit with the release of Novo Nordisk's small molecule oral cannabinoid receptor (CB1) inverse agonist monlunabant last month, Skye Bioscience Chairman and CEO Punit Dhillon is shaking it off. He's confident that his company's antibody-based approach to CB1 inhibition will make a moot point of the neuropsychiatric side effects that put a damper on Novo's data. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, we're digging into the uber-hot business of weight loss therapeutics.
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Psychedelics For Mental Health Disorders With atai's Srinivas Rao, M.D., Ph.D.
5/28/2025
On this week's Business of Biotech episode, Dr. Srinivas Rao, co-founder and CEO at atai Life Sciences, explains how his engineering background led him to the development of psychedelic compounds for treating depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders. Internal drug development efforts at atai are focused on short-duration psychedelics that can work within existing healthcare infrastructure, with the potential to transform the treatment of mental health disorders.