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Multimodal approaches to the delivery of radiologically active compounds have created a fertile environment to for players in the space to put on a precision medicine clinic, so to speak. What’s more, Radiopharmaceuticals create a unique business opportunity given the closely-related and necessary companion diagnostic arena. On today’s episode of the Business of Biotech, recorded in San Francisco, we sit down with Dr. Mark Hoppin, CEO of Ratio Therapeutics, a company that’s well-positioned in the space with a fresh Series B and the foundation of a tunable radiotherapeutic that Dr. Hoppin says addresses the delivery, safety and efficacy challenges long associated with radiopharmaceuticals in the treatment of solid cancers. We also discuss how this mathemetician-turned biotech CEO has navigated the leadership of boards, employees, and investors on his journey. Subscribe to the #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. It's a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that you'll actually look forward to receiving! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob!

While you might be aware that Sail Biomedicines  was just formed up in Q4 of last year, the product of Flagship Pioneering’s decision to merge Senda Biosciences and Laronde, two of its programmable medicine platform companies. What you likely haven’t heard is the inside story on how the merger was executed, how the two companies are integrating their talent, IP, and resources, and what Sail Biomedicines CEO Dr. Guillaume  Pfefer and team are currently doing to take the fruits of the company’s platform into the clinic.  On this episode  of the Business of Biotech, Dr. Pfefer takes us under the hood of Sail Biomedicines and its mission to marry evolution and AI to develop programmable medicines based on eRNA. Subscribe to the #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. It's a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that you'll actually look forward to receiving! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob!

The concept of programmable biology is fueling a new breed of biotech, one that requires the marriage of computational and traditional science (and both computational and traditional scientists) on the entire journey from discovery to commercial.  Bit.bio is exemplary of this new breed. Its CEO, Dr. Mark Kotter doesn’t pull any punches when addressing the complexity involved in building out the company’s capabilities. At the discovery stage alone, bit.bio has hired – and integrated – stem cell biologists, synthetic biologists, genetic engineering experts, cellular biologists, sequencing experts, data scientists, bioinformatics pros, and machine learning experts.  On this episode of the Business of Biotech, recorded in San Francisco during JPM Week, we catch up with Dr. Kotter on the work bit.bio is doing, how it’s doing it, and how he and his leadership team are recruiting and retaining a new breed of biotech talent to sustain the effort. Let’s give it a listen.  Subscribe to the #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. It's a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that you'll actually look forward to receiving! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob!

Without doubt, the grand and collaborative experiment that was the mRNA COVID vaccine contributed mightily to the pandemic response and continues to save lives untold. It also demonstrated the collective power of public/private partnership in biopharma. Having acknowledged that, no first iteration of a new technology is ever the best iteration of that technology. On this week's episode of the Business of Biotech, we welcome Carsten Rudolph, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of a company that recognizes this room for improvement. Ethris is developing mRNA-based candidates for the treatment of respiratory viral infections and rare pulmonary diseases, in addition to mucosal, multivalent, and mutation-agnostic prophylactic vaccines.   Dr. Rudolph explains the concept, the business case, and how he's navigating Ethris toward a better treatment and vaccine paradigm in the wake of the pandemic.  Subscribe to the #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. It's a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that you'll actually look forward to receiving! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob!

The Business of Biotech took a trip to San Francisco for the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, that most target-richest of environments for those of us who like talking shop with biotech builders. The results of that trip will feed the next several weeks of Business of Biotech podcast programming, and we're kicking things off with everyone's favorite life sciences CFO, Allan Shaw. On this episode, Allan shares what's driving the cautious optimism for biotech's return, pointing to factors like December's flurry of M&A activity, interest rate reductions, and easing inflation as just cause for the bullish sentiment that was palpable at the conference. We also discuss what could shift the tailwinds, namely the election year wildcard, and why biotech could benefit from a metered comeback. Come for the facts, stay for the Shawisms! Subscribe to the #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. It's a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that you'll actually look forward to receiving! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob!

Success at multimodal, multi-indication, deep-pipelined Incyte—where commercial operations are as familiar as pre-discovery activity is—begins at the earliest opportunity to achieve research and discovery efficiencies. The company’s a bit larger than those we typically cover on the Business of Biotech, and that’s okay! Sometimes, the smartest approach to creating your own masterpiece is to study the masters On this episode of the podcast, we sit down with Incyte’s Group Vice President and head of its Inflammation and AutoImmunity Group, Jim Lee, M.D., Ph.D. for a dissection of the company’s approach to the comprehensive and efficient R&D that leads to repeated clinical and commercial success.  Subscribe to the #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. It's a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that you'll actually look forward to receiving! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob!

We spend a lot of time talking with our guests about building biotech companies. That’s true of this episode too, but today we’re taking a step further with John Leonard, M.D., longtime CEO at Intellia Therapeutics. In addition to how he’s built late-clinical stage Intellia, Dr. Leonard shares the foundational elements of a biotech community, particularly around rapidly-advancing technologies such as CRISPR,  and what biotech ecosystems offer emerging biotechs in terms of resources, intellectual property, and support. Turns out that despite his proximity, Boston isn’t the prerequisite it used to be. This is an instructive conversation with an industry vet who’s happy to share the wealth of his knowledge.  Subscribe to the #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. It's a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that you'll actually look forward to receiving! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob!

Relatively new CEO Joseph Ferra has orchestrated some pretty significant change at Elevation Oncology in the two(ish) years since the Business of Biotech last hosted the company.  In that short time, Ferra advance from CFO to CEO, a move that aligned very closely with the company's difficult decision to shelve the late phase 2 anti-HER3 monoclonal antibody candidate it was founded on. Those big moves set the stage for Elevations' new lead candidate, a phase 1 Claudin18.2 target in the oh-so-hot ADC (antibody drug conjugate) space.  On this episode of the Business of Biotech, we go behind the scenes to learn why and how those daring moves were made, and how Elevation navigated the gauntlet of risk it assumed when it embraced disruption in a not-so-shiny biotech market.  Subscribe to the #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. It's a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that you'll actually look forward to receiving! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob!

A new year marks a fresh start for biotech partnerships, and to kick off 2024, we're highlighting a good one. Fina Biosolutions' Dr. Andrew Lees recently signed on with Scorpius BioManufacturing to support his company's growth plan. On today's episode of the Business of Biotech, Lees sits down with Scorpius VP of commercial operations Steve Lavezoli for a frank conversation on the ups, downs, and expectations of a biotech + CDMO relationship. In addition to contracts and master service agreements, the pair walk us through the day-to-day execution of the partnership and responsibilities of those involved in it. If you're considering signing on with an outsourced manufacturing partner, or thinking about making a switch, you won't want to miss this episode.  Subscribe to the #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. It's a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that you'll actually look forward to receiving! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob!

Merry Christmas, Business of Biotechers! On this Christmas Day release, we’re taking a trip to the land down under to visit with Dr. Sam Costello, a former gastroenterologist-turned managing director and co-founder at Adelaide, Australia-based BiomeBank. We covered some ground on this one, most notably the unique path BiomeBank took to chalking up the first donor-derived microbiome therapeutic approval of its kind, anywhere in the world.  In a segment of biotech that’s been particularly battered of late, that’s a big, big win. We also talked about what’s behind Australia’s foray onto the global biotech scene, the public/private partnerships supporting that growth, why U.S. biotechs, in particular, are flocking there to conduct clinical trials, and whether Foster’s is really Australian for beer. Don’t miss it! Subscribe to the #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. It's a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that you'll actually look forward to receiving! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob!

On this week's episode of the Business of Biotech, we welcome two extraordinary guests - Dr. Neela Patel, a molecular biologist-turned-Chief Business Officer, and Dr. John Mulligan, an academic-turned-founder of newly-formed Bonum Therapeutics. Together, Neela and John will pull back the curtain on Bonum's transition from its predecessor, Good Therapeutics, which was fueled by a high-profile asset sale to Roche. The asset, a PD-1-regulated IL-2 program, was a product of a platform that the new Bonum retains, and its sale to Roche was orchestrated by Dr. Patel. You've seen the terms of the deal in the news, but on this episode, you'll get the inside scoop on how the deal was done, how it set Bonum up for future paltform-driven succes, and how these two leaders retained its IP and its people through a fast, unique, and disruptive acquisition.  Subscribe to the #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. It's a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that you'll actually look forward to receiving! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob!

During his leadership of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief during the George W. Bush administraion, Dr. Mark Dybul, M.D. shepherded programs credited with saving more than  25 million lives. For many years after that public service drew to a close, he continued the mission as executive director of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria--working in lockstep with not only the world's leading scientists, but the likes of Bono and Sir Elton John along the way.  But, it wasn't all glamor and heroics. Dybul had to influence some decidedly conservative global political machines of the importance of addressing the AIDS epidemic, particularly, at the time, in Africa. He had to fight through federal and global beuracracies for every dime of funding earned. His leadership required resolve in the face of complexity and adversity.  Nothing could have better prepared him for biotech leadership, which has dealt Dr. Dybul an unfair share of unique adversity that's, quite frankly, the stuff of a Dateline NBC episode. On this epsiode of the Business of Biotech podcast, Dybul, CEO at Renovaro Biosciences, gets introspective on leadership forged in the fires of public service and battle-tested in the private sector. Subscribe to the #BusinessofBiotech newsletter at bioprocessonline.com/bob for more real, honest, transparent interactions with the leaders of emerging biotech. It's a once-per-month dose of insight and intel that you'll actually look forward to receiving! Check it out at bioprocessonline.com/bob!