Regulatory

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. Taking ADCs Across The Finish Line 8/13/2020

    While Immunomedics CMO Loretta Itri, M.D. is no stranger to taking drugs across the commercial finish line in big pharma environments, her most recent win with TRODELVY was very, very different. On this episode, Dr. Itri shares insight on her small biopharma's first commercial launch, the manufacturing and regulatory approval challenges that were overcome to get there, and why antibody drug conjugates are coming of age.

  5. FDA Trials And Tribulations With Connect Biopharma's Barry Quart 6/19/2025

    On this week's episode of the Business of Biotech, Barry Quart, CEO of Connect Biopharma, weighs in on the current state of engagement between drug developers and the FDA, and how that key relationship continues to evolve under new leadership. Barry also discusses moving the company from China to San Diego, why a U.S. financial reporting structure helps attract investors, and how Connect is finding the white spaces in respiratory disease -- the company's lead candidate is a biologic drug targeting acute asthma and COPD exacerbations.

  6. 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. 

  7. IND For TIL Therapy With Obsidian Therapeutics' Paul Wotton, Ph.D. 10/25/2022

    On this episode of The Business of Biotech, Obsidian Therapeutics CEO Paul Wotton, Ph.D. takes us behind the scenes to reveal what precipitated the FDA's clearance of its IND application for a novel, engineered tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy called OBX-115. Learn how the company navigated the regulatory path for a first-of-its-kind biologic therapy developed in partnership with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center that Dr. Wotton says, should it succeed, will eliminate the patient risk associated with concomitant IL2 therapy and improve clinical outcomes for certain patients with metastatic melanoma. We also get an update on outcomes from Obsidian's unique approach to solving COVID-19 challenges covered on episode 9 of the Business of Biotech.

  8. Facing NASH Therapeutic Skepticism With 89bio's Rohan Palekar 8/9/2023

    The non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) therapeutics market has proven to be an 11/10 on the difficulty scale. Despite billions of big biopharma dollars invested in therapeutic development, and a few close calls, no therapeutics has yet reached the finish line.

  9. The FDA's Progressive Appeal ft. Allan Shaw 2/16/2021

    Allan Shaw rejoins the Business of Biotech with candid and deep commentary on the unprecedented pace of biopharma innovation, and how the FDA is doing in its equally unprecedented effort to keep pace. In particular, Shaw shares his take on the advance of cell and gene therapies, his observation on the outsized approval rate for orphan disease and oncology therapies, and much, much more. *Editor's note: the review of Biogen's Aducanumab, referenced here as taking place in the March timeframe, was extended shortly after this episode was recorded.

  10. CMC Considerations For In-Human Studies With Drs. Edith Perez And Nathan Ihle 9/23/2020

    Bolt Biotherapeutics CMO Dr. Edith Perez and VP of CMC & Quality Dr. Nathan Ihle bring a unique combination of patient and production process expertise to the table for an enlightening conversation on preparing chemistry, manufacturing, and controls for an IND and ensuing first in-human studies.