TD Cowen Insights

Recorded on 06/24/25TD Cowen's Machine Medicine: AI & Health Care podcast series takes on the cross-sector revolution in artificial intelligence and breaks it down one piece at a time. We highlight some of the biggest misconceptions about how AI is and can be used in different health care settings and aim to contextualize the latest and most impactful developments in a field defined by rapid innovation. In this episode, TD Cowen's health care analyst Brendan Smith hosts Alex Zhavoronkov, chief executive officer and founder of Insilico Medicine, to explore how Insilico is helping define some of the most important efficiency benchmarks and key performance indicators for AI in drug development. We discuss the difficulties investors face when assessing the relative productivity and competitive profile of different AI platforms and how important it is that AI players demonstrate and disclose quantifiable improvements that actually bend the curve on R&D efficiency. https://go.td.com/PodcastDisclosure Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Recorded on 09/18/25.TD Cowen analyst Yaron Werber speaks with Ron Renaud, a Wall Street biotech veteran who turned into a seasoned biotech CEO and chairman of boards, as he outlines his decision to helm Kailera Therapeutics as President and CEO. Ron lays out Kailera's vision in obesity, a field that underpins one of the key global healthcare challenges. Backed by a $400M Series A and a strategic partnership with Jiangsu Hengrui, a large global pharma based in China with deep peptide chemistry expertise, the company is advancing both an injectable dual GLP1/GIP1 agonist and an oral GLP1 program to create a comprehensive, leading, late-stage, metabolic portfolio. Ron emphasizes how the partnership with Hengrui accelerates data flow and strategic decision-making. He stresses that guiding Kailera's growth requires the same principles he applies broadly in biotech: transparency, trust, surrounding yourself with great people, and stimulating the best in innovation and cooperation from the team.Ron also shares lessons from his impressive career spanning equity research, multiple biotech CEO roles, and three successful acquisitions by pharma (Idenix, Translate Bio, Cerevel) for a total $16B in value. He emphasizes that companies “get bought, not sold” — meaning value comes from building strong, enduring organizations with the right people and differentiated foundations.On leadership, Ron highlights the importance of transparency with boards and employees, especially during turbulent times of strategic refocusing/change, pipeline reprioritization, and recognizing the importance of every employee within a company. He stresses that good decision-making often comes from admitting what you don’t know and being unafraid to ask. For aspiring CEOs, he recommends surrounding yourself with trusted mentors and collaborators, focusing on culture as much as science, and learning to navigate nonlinear processes.If he wasn’t a biotech CEO, Ron would opt to be a teacher. Lastly, on a fun note, when asked to choose between jumping out of a plane or scuba diving to the bottom of the ocean, Ron, an avid fisherman, says that he would pick scuba diving because of his deep love of the ocean, as he can always figure out a way back to the surface. https://go.td.com/PodcastDisclosure Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Recorded on 09/23/25.Northland Power is a large-scale developer and operator of renewable, battery storage, and gas-fired power, with 3.5 gigawatts of operating capacity and an additional 2.2 gigawatts under construction. President and CEO Christine Healy provides a detailed overview of the company's diverse platform and compelling growth prospects across technologies and regions. https://go.td.com/PodcastDisclosure Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Recorded on 08/01/25How to Succeed in Sephora & Drive Longevity. We host Cassie Cowman, Co-Founder of View from 32, who explains why Sephora launches demand 9-18 months of planning, aligned KPIs, and flawless execution. We discuss Rare Beauty’s blush and Rhode’s lip as lessons in category ownership and highlight haircare’s styling wave. We also unpack how biotech + AI are key drivers amid rising market volatility and Ulta vs. Sephora dynamics.What's Next in Beauty and Wellness and What Will Work For the Long Term. In this episode, Cassie explains that longevity in beauty comes from owning categories and building replenishable hero SKUs, not chasing viral spikes, and highlights how Rare Beauty’s dominance in blush and Rhode’s lip play serve as case studies in the trade-offs between loyalty and virality. The discussion unpacks haircare’s next wave in styling, biotech and AI-driven skincare innovation, and the rise of “expert-led” brands driving category engagement. Cassie also contrasts Sephora’s disciplined brand-building with Ulta’s broader assortment, arguing that Ulta must sharpen curation, education, and services to compete in a market where consumer demand is more volatile than ever. https://go.td.com/PodcastDisclosure Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Recorded on 09/05/25In this episode, TD Cowen's Consumer Finance analyst Moshe Orenbuch hosts Zip Co CEO Cynthia Scott to explore what Zip does and its value proposition to consumers and merchants. We believe this is very relevant to our coverage of consumer finance companies including Affirm, given the fast growing BNPL industry in the U.S., competitive landscape, as well as Klarna's recent IPO. https://go.td.com/PodcastDisclosure Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Recorded on 09/04/25TD Cowen analyst Yaron Werber speaks with Ricky Sun about Bain Capital's collaborative edge with both the Life Sciences and Private Equity teams, their broader Asia strategy with a focus on Japan and China, advice for biotech CEOs and boards, and opportunities and challenges in the current life sciences investing landscape. Ricky shares his learnings from Bain’s recent carve-out/taking private of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma (valued at roughly $3.3B), and notably how leveraging deep scientific and operational expertise across the Life Sciences and Japanese Private Equity teams was crucial for deal execution. In what is one of the key underpinnings of this deal, he shares optimism that the streamlining of drug approvals within the Japanese PMDA, especially for orphan indications, will allow faster time to market, reduce requirements to conduct Ph1 studies in Japanese patients by employing data from Western patients, and facilitate earlier feedback to sponsors, which will expedite approvals. He also cites his experience from >80 deals that suggests that quality of management, sound decision making, and discipline in capital deployment are the key factors for success in biotech. https://go.td.com/PodcastDisclosure Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Recorded on 09/04/25 TD Cowen financial policy analyst Jaret Seiberg hosts TD Cowen's Two Cents Podcast, which includes a discussion of tokenized equity trading with Reid Noch, who follows U.S. market structure at TD Cowen. We also get a market update from Scott Smith, the TD Cowen specialty salesperson for financials. https://go.td.com/PodcastDisclosure Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Recorded on 06/23/25TD Cowen's Machine Medicine: AI & Health Care podcast series takes on the cross-sector revolution in artificial intelligence and breaks it down one piece at a time. We highlight some of the biggest misconceptions about how AI is and can be used in different health care settings and aim to contextualize the latest and most significant developments in a field defined by rapid innovation.  In this episode, TD Cowen's health care analyst Brendan Smith hosts Jeff Elton, Vice Chairman of ConcertAI, to explore how ConcertAI is rewriting the playbook for designing and enrolling clinical trials using AI and data-driven precision. We discuss how ripe the current process of running clinical trials is for this kind of innovation as well as how recent guidance from the FDA is shifting conversations with customers. We also aim to unpack what the path toward widespread AI integration could look like and where the field may go from here, especially as the push for faster and more precise trials continues to be a top priority for the entire health care sector.   https://go.td.com/PodcastDisclosure Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Recorded on 07/30/25Stem Cells To Skin: How Molecular Biology & AV Laboratories' SOM3 Molecule Drive Skin Wellness. We host AV Laboratories CEO Ami Mezezi and CMO Josh Smith to discover how they merge biotechnology and regenerative science with efficacious skincare. AV Laboratories is a biotech company first, differentiated by full vertical integration: developing, testing, and manufacturing all in-house. SOM3 is AV Laboratories' proprietary molecular nutrition system that delivers targeted amino acids and cofactors to support cell metabolism and longevity. https://go.td.com/PodcastDisclosure Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Recorded on 08/28/2025 In this episode, Roman Schweizer, TD Cowen’s WRG geopolitics & defense analyst, discusses the big must-do things in Washington and potential catalysts through the end of the year with an All-Star reporter lineup. We cover recent Administration comments about the Federal Government taking equity positions in defense companies and look at upcoming issues such as the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act, appropriations, Continuing Resolutions, shutdown risk, rescissions, plus some program milestones on General Atomics' Collaborative Combat Aircraft, Northrop Grumman's B-21 and SpaceX's Starship. https://go.td.com/PodcastDisclosure Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.