Biotech 2050 Podcast

Dr. Ying Huang currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Legend Biotech. He sits on the Board of Directors of Legend, as well as Quanta Therapeutics. Dr. Huang brings over 9 years of experience in research and development at major multi-national pharmaceutical companies and 12 years of experience as a biotechnology analyst on Wall Street. Dr. Huang was a Managing Director and Head of Biotech Equity Research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch where he led a team of analysts covering more than 30 biotechnology companies that encompass a wide range of therapeutic areas. His knowledge and expertise have been recognized by the Institutional Investor survey as a top ranked biotechnology analyst on Wall Street. Dr. Huang previously worked at Wachovia, Credit Suisse, Gleacher and Barclays before joining Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Besides providing investment research to investors, Dr. Huang and his team conducted due diligence for numerous successful initial public offerings (IPOs) and follow-on offerings in the biotechnology sector. Prior to his Wall Street career, Dr. Huang was a Principal Scientist at Schering-Plough in the Department of Chemical Research focusing on small molecule drug discovery in the therapeutic areas of cardiovascular and central nervous system. He is the co-author of multiple patents and peer reviewed publications. Dr. Huang received his Doctor of Philosophy in Bio-organic Chemistry from Columbia University. He also studied in the Special Class for the Gifted Young at the University of Science and Technology of China and Columbia Business School.

Eli de los Pinos is the founding CEO of Aura, which she has created from the ground up: She developed the company concept and has spearheaded fundraising efforts, and today, she continues to lead Aura’s strategy and operations. Prior to founding Aura, she worked in Eli Lilly & Co.’s oncology business unit, where she was part of the leadership team responsible for the market launch in Europe of Alimta, a drug for the treatment of lung cancer. Earlier in her career, Eli worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of Cancer Research in London. She previously completed fellowships at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine Institute of Molecular Medicine and at the Georgetown School of Medicine. Eli holds a Ph.D., magna cum laude, in Molecular Biology from the University of Barcelona and an MBA from IE Business School. She is a member of the board of overseers at the Museum of Science, Boston. Eli has also been named to Boston Business Journal’s 2009 “Top 40 under 40” list; as a Mass High Tech “Woman to Watch” in 2010; as a “Technology Pioneer” by the World Economic Forum in 2010; and as one of Goldman Sachs’ “100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs” in 2014.

Brad Margus is co-founder and Executive Chairman of Cerevance, a drug discovery company advancing a robust pipeline of targeted treatments for patients with neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. The company's lead program, CVN424, has recently shown significant and clinically meaningful efficacy and safety in a 135-patient, phase 2 clinical study for Parkinson’s Disease. Investors include Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Google Ventures, Bill Gates, Casdin Capital, Lightstone Ventures, Foresite Capital, UPMC Enterprises, Dolby Ventures and the Dementia Discovery Fund. In 2013, Margus started Genome Bridge, a non-profit subsidiary of the Broad Institute of Harvard and M.I.T., to build a computational platform for sharing genomic data. From 2009 to 2012, as co-founder and CEO of Envoy Therapeutics, Margus led the discovery of therapeutics for brain diseases and then sold the company to Takeda Pharmaceuticals. From 2000 to 2007, Margus was co-founder and CEO of Perlegen Sciences, a leader in analyzing genetic variation. Concurrent with his business career, for the last 25+ years, Margus has worked as a volunteer in founding and leading the A-T Children’s Project, a non-profit that orchestrates and funds research on a rare disease - ataxia telangiectasia or "A-T" - that two of his sons have. A-T causes progressive loss of muscle control, cancer and immune system problems. One supported project involves testing an antisense oligonucleotide gene therapy approach for A-T. Margus currently serves on the Boards of Arvinas (Nasdaq: ARVN), a protein degradation company; Presage Bio, an oncology company; and Neurona, a cell therapy company. He also serves as Co-chair of the Network for Excellence in Neuroscience Clinical Trials External Oversight Board at the Nat'l. Institutes of Health. Margus previously served on the Advisory Council to the National Inst. of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; the Secretary of HHS's Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health and Society; the Board of the Genetic Alliance, representing hundreds of genetic disease advocacy organizations; the Nat'l. Center for Advancing Translational Sciences Advisory Council at the NIH, the Cure Acceleration Network Review Board; as a Harvard Business School Global Advisor, as an advisor to Counsyl (acquired by Myriad Genetics); on the Board of Children’s Neurobiological Solutions; the Board of Cellular Research, a molecular biology tool company (acquired by Becton Dickinson); the Board of Second Genome, a microbiome company; the Board of Global Genes, a non-profit supporting all rare diseases; and on the Stanford University School of Medicine’s Stem Cell Research Oversight Committee. Margus holds an MBA from Harvard.

Dr. Aoife Brennan is an experienced physician scientist and drug developer responsible for the successful clinical development and registration of multiple transformative medicines. Aoife has served as Synlogic’s president and chief executive officer since May 2018. She joined Synlogic in September 2016 as chief medical officer. Prior to Synlogic, Aoife spent six years at Biogen, most recently as vice president and head of the Rare Disease Innovation Unit, developing programs from pre-clinical to commercial. She has led programs across multiple therapeutic areas including the successful late phase development & registration of SPINRAZA® (nusinersen) for spinal muscular atrophy and ALPROLIX® and ELOCTATE® for Hemophilia B and Hemophilia A, respectively. Aoife serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Cerevance and Fibrogen, Inc, and previously served on the Board of Directors of Ra Pharmaceuticals until it’s acquisition by UCB. Earlier in her career, Aoife led clinical development at Tolerx, a start-up biotech company focusing on immunotherapy for Type 1 diabetes. Aoife holds a medical degree from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland and has completed post-graduate training in internal medicine, endocrinology and metabolism. She has completed post-doctoral training in clinical research and metabolism at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and is a graduate of the Harvard Medical School Scholars in Clinical Science Program.

Mr. Gergen was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Poseida in February 2022. He joined Poseida in February 2018, initially serving as Chief Business Officer and Chief Financial Officer before being named President and Chief Business Officer in July 2020. He has been a member of the Company’s board of directors since 2018. Mr. Gergen was previously the Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Halozyme, Inc. and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Mirati Therapeutics, Inc. Previously he served in senior management positions, including as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development, at Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He also served in senior management positions at CardioNet Inc., Advanced Tissue Sciences, Inc., and Medtronic, Inc. Mr. Gergen received a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School and a B.A. in business administration from Minot State University.

Timothy J. Miller, Ph.D. CEO, President and Co-Founder Timothy Miller is CEO, President and Co-Founder of Forge Biologics, Inc., a VC-backed gene therapy development engine focused on accelerating access to potentially life-saving AAV gene therapies. Prior to founding Forge, Dr. Miller co-founded Abeona Therapeutics, a rare disease gene and cell therapy company. He served as Abeona’s CEO and President from 2012-early 2018, taking the company public in 2015. He is a proven biotech leader with experience in driving gene therapy pipeline development, regulatory strategy, investor relations, M&A activities, licensing, GMP manufacturing, clinical development, and leading stakeholder/shareholder engagement. Dr. Miller has over 20+ years of business development, scientific research, product development and clinical operations expertise, with a focus on transitioning novel gene and cell therapies through pre-clinical and Phase 3 human clinical trials. He is an avid patient-centric drug developer and entrepreneur. Dr. Miller earned degrees in Pharmacology (Ph.D.) and Biology/Molecular Science (M.S. and B.S.) from John Carroll University. Erandi De Silva, Ph.D. Co-Founder & Senior Vice President of Product Development Erandi De Silva is Co-Founder and Senior Vice President of Product Development at Forge Biologics. She is an experienced scientist and entrepreneur, with 10+ years of experience in discovery research, therapeutic development, and partnering across oncology, infectious disease, and gene therapy. Prior to founding Forge, Dr. De Silva held leadership roles in both academic and industry settings, including at Myonexus Therapeutics. She earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Princeton University, where she was awarded the Procter Fellowship in recognition of exceptional research, and her B.S., with honors, from Stanford University. Dr. De Silva was also a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Genentech.

Our guest this week is one of our hosts, Alok Tayi, and he has some exciting news. The official launch of his new company, Vibe Biotechnology, building a global community of patients, scientists, and partners around a shared mission to cure rare diseases. Vibe Bio's novel approach seeks to scale the development of treatments sustainably and provides patient communities unprecedented ownership over the results. Alok is a scientist by trade, with over 15 years under his belt including a PhD at Northwestern - and time spent at Harvard under a successful biotech founder. He then went on to start multiple biotech software companies - securing over $100M in total venture funding along the way. Through his own personal and professional experience, Alok has realized that the families of patients with rare diseases have plenty of hope - but what they need is help. Not necessarily finding the right potential therapeutic option - but actually funding it. That’s where the Vibe community steps in - vetting out which drug development programs have the highest potential and financing the process via crypto token sales. Tapping into the crypto market opens up a wealth of new opportunities when it comes to tackling some of these major rare diseases. Vibe’s aim is to give families not only the community of support - but the genuine power to pursue a cure for any rare disease at scale - an issue that impacts 1 in 10 Americans. Sit back, relax, and we hope you enjoy this enlightening conversation between Alok and our wonderful guest host Susanna Harris, PhD.

Paul is the CEO & Co-founder of Locus Biosciences. With a career that spans manufacturing, research & development, information technology and corporate transformations, Paul brings a broad range of experience and capability to deliver on the Locus vision. Prior to Locus, Paul was Chief Technology Officer at Patheon Pharmaceuticals and also held the role of Global Head of Operations for Patheon’s Pharmaceuticals Development Services business unit. Paul previously served as Global Head of Manufacturing and Chief Information Officer at Valeant Pharmaceuticals, amount other roles. Paul was a Visiting Professor at North Carolina State University’s Poole College of Management and volunteered as an executive-in-residence for the HiTEC Graduate Program, NCSU’s Entrepreneurship Collaborative, where he identified the technology that would form the basis for Locus. Paul earned a BSBA in Management Information Systems from the University of Arizona and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Dr. Trevor Martin founded Mammoth Biosciences with the mission to enable the next generation of CRISPR-based synthetic biology products across therapeutics and diagnostics, including a novel class of affordable, effective, and rapid CRISPR-enabled molecular diagnostics that allow individuals worldwide to better understand their health and a novel family of CRISPR Cas14 proteins that can enable in vivo editing. Trevor earned his BA from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in Biology from Stanford. His work has been featured in outlets including FiveThirtyEight and The Atlantic. He is the featured healthcare honoree on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, is on Fortune’s 40 Under 40 list, and is a Malaria No More “10 to END” innovator.

Laurence joined Decibel in January 2020. He previously served as an entrepreneur in residence at Third Rock Ventures, where he focused on novel drug discovery and development opportunities. Before that, Laurence was CEO of Warp Drive Bio, a small molecule company focused on novel oncology and antibiotic drug discovery based on natural products, until its merger with Revolution Medicines in 2018. Prior to that, he was the senior vice president and chief business officer of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for the company’s business development, finance and legal functions. Before coming to Alnylam, Laurence was the chief business officer at Ensemble Discovery, where he led the company’s strategic planning and corporate development efforts. Laurence previously spent ten years at Millennium Pharmaceuticals in a range of general management and business development positions. In addition to his professional interests, Laurence is a board member of the Possible Project and board advisor to Life Science Cares. He earned his Ph.D. from King’s College London and his B.A. from Cambridge University.