Business Of Biotech

Punit Dhillon, Chairman and CEO of Skye Bioscience, shares insights on innovative obesity therapies targeting CB1 inhibition. He discusses the challenges faced by recent GLP-1 inhibitors and proposes a groundbreaking antibody-based approach to minimize side effects. Dhillon emphasizes the importance of combining effective treatments with lifestyle changes to tackle obesity's complex nature. With a commitment to rigorous clinical trials and a focus on metabolic health, he highlights Skye's potential to disrupt the weight-loss therapeutic market significantly.

Allan Shaw, a biotech finance guru with decades of experience in strategic hiring and leadership, shares invaluable insights on assembling effective executive teams. He emphasizes the dangers of inadequate hiring and stresses the importance of aligning talent with clinical milestones. The discussion also covers the challenges of preparing for public offerings and navigating fractional versus full-time leadership roles. Shaw reveals how careful decision-making can thrive even in volatility, ensuring that biotech companies remain agile and prepared for growth.

Mike Kelly, CEO of NervGen, leads the charge in peptide therapeutics aimed at repairing the central nervous system. He shares his transformation from a sales background to a biotech leader, emphasizing the importance of mentorship in understanding complex biopharma science. The discussion highlights NervGen's innovative strategies for tackling neurodegenerative diseases and the challenges of peptide manufacturing. Kelly also reflects on navigating startup dynamics, funding strategies, and the significance of collaboration in biopharma success.

Ali Pashazadeh, a surgeon-turned-healthcare investment banker, shares his unique insights into the biotech sector. He discusses his career shift, emphasizing the blend of medical knowledge with business acumen. Pashazadeh tackles the common challenges biotech firms face, from investor pressures to regulatory hurdles, highlighting the crucial role of internal alignment and transparency. He also addresses the importance of emotional intelligence in leadership during tough investment decisions and advocates for better clinical trial disclosure to enhance patient outcomes.

Hilary Eaton, Ph.D., is the Chief Business Officer at ProFluent Bio, where she champions open-source AI gene editing tools. Once a skeptic of AI in drug discovery, her perspective shifted after personal and professional challenges. She delves into her transformative journey from molecular biology to business, the emotional strains of parenting a child with a rare disorder, and the critical role of genetics in therapeutic innovation. Hilary also discusses the importance of collaboration in advancing biotech through AI, emphasizing resilience and support in the industry.

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. SR One Capital Management CEO Simeon George, M.D. has a seemingly innate ability to pick winning biotech builders. Early on, he and his firm got behind CRISPR's Samarth Kulkarni, Ph.D., Arcellx' Rami Elghandour, and Nkarta's Paul Hastings, for example. With nearly 50 biotech leaders in SR One's portfolio, there are plenty more where those three came from. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, Dr. George, admits that despite his gifted brain he more readily follows his heart. Still, over the course of our conversation, he shares insight into the decision making processes that have contributed to his success at picking winners as an investment banker and biotech venture capitalist. Access this and hundreds of episodes of the Business of Biotech videocast under the Business of Biotech tab at lifescienceleader.com. Subscribe to our monthly Business of Biotech newsletter. Get in touch with guest and topic suggestions: ben.comer@lifescienceleader.comFind Ben Comer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencomer/

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. Erik van den Berg is CEO and board member at Memo Therapeutics, and he's a student of biotech chaos. In fact, he's been embracing it with intention for the past 30 years. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, he walks us through the management of that chaos in specific detail. Navigating gluttonous Covid-fueled financial markets. Achieving clinical outcomes during the pandemic. Keeping development on the rails in a protracted financial drought. Creating differentiation in crowded and noisy renal and oncology antibody therapeutic spaces. We cover it all, with van den Berg offering detailed insight into the guiding principles of navigating constant change in biotech.Access this and hundreds of episodes of the Business of Biotech videocast under the Business of Biotech tab at lifescienceleader.com. Subscribe to our monthly Business of Biotech newsletter. Get in touch with guest and topic suggestions: ben.comer@lifescienceleader.comFind Ben Comer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencomer/

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. This week, it’s another “Business of Biotech-meets-Business-of-RNA” takeover with Circio CEO Erik Digman Wiklund, Ph.D. and guest co-host Anna Rose Welch of Advancing RNA.  While Circio’s legacy is in cancer immunology (it still boasts a cancer vaccine candidate targeting KRAS driver mutations), the company made a bold pivot, of sorts, when it committed headlong to the circular RNA future. Now, it’s in the throes of fine-tuning a platform for the development of novel circRNA medicines for rare disease, vaccines, and cancer. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, we go deep inside the story behind the pivot, we explore the RNA therapeutic platform-versus-product appetite among biotech investors, and Dr. Digman Wiklund shares insights into the challenges his company overcame to enable such a dramatic shift in focus. Access this and hundreds of episodes of the Business of Biotech videocast under the Business of Biotech tab at lifescienceleader.com. Subscribe to our monthly Business of Biotech newsletter. Get in touch with guest and topic suggestions: ben.comer@lifescienceleader.comFind Ben Comer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencomer/

Sophia Lugo, CEO of Radar Therapeutics, and Eerik Kaseniit, Ph.D., CSO and President, dive into the exciting world of mRNA innovation. They share their journey from academia to industry, driven by a passion for equitable healthcare solutions. The duo discusses navigating co-founder dynamics and the importance of a supportive network in biotech. They also highlight how their precision-expressed mRNA technology is triggering interest from investors, positioning Radar as a key player in the evolving landscape of RNA therapeutics.

Michael Bailey, CEO of Aveo Oncology and a seasoned leader in drug commercialization at firms like GSK and Genentech, shares his journey through biopharma's highs and lows. He discusses the resilience required to navigate setbacks, especially during the pandemic, and the art of knowing when to push forward or pivot. Bailey emphasizes the importance of collaboration, tailored strategies, and maintaining a patient-centric mission, while also offering career insights for aspiring biotech professionals drawn from his unique path in the industry.