Beyond Biotech - the podcast from Labiotech

While our podcast takes a brief break, Labiotech invites you to enjoy some of our favorite episodes. We will return with a brand-new episode on August 16, 2024! Have an awesome summer!Epic Bio is an epigenetic editing company, leveraging the power of CRISPR without cutting DNA.The company’s proprietary Gene Expression Modulation System (GEMS) includes the smallest Cas protein known to work in human cells, enabling in vivo or ex vivo delivery via a single viral vector. This week, we discuss epigenetic editing, why it’s reversible, and how it can treat FSHD and other conditions, with Epic Bio’s founder, Dr Stanley Qi, one of the original inventors of CRISPR.01:15-02:51: Dr Xi’s background02:51-05:11: The beginning of Epic Bio05:12-09:23: What is epigenetic editing?09:23-10:47: What is the Gene Expression Modulation System?10:47-12:47: How is the editing reversible?12:47-18:01: How will epigenetic editing advance treatments?18:01-21:24: Tackling multiple conditions21:24-22:46: How will your platform tackle FSHD?22:46-24:18: FSHD clinical trial24:18-25:51: How will you address costs?25:51-27:18: Are other companies working on epigenetics?27:18-29:27: What else is in the pipeline?29:27-31:58: What are the next steps?Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! Stay updated by subscribing to our newsletter

While our podcast takes a brief break, Labiotech invites you to enjoy some of our favorite episodes. We will return with a brand-new episode on August 16, 2024! Have an awesome summer!Artificial intelligence (AI) is certainly in the news constantly; however, it’s been used in drug discovery for some time.A new collaboration between artificial intelligence drug discovery company Insilico Medicine and University of Toronto biochemist and molecular geneticist Igor Stagljar will test AI-designed molecules against "undruggable" cancer targets. The research will test 15 to 20 undruggable targets - but are they undruggable? And how does AI work in the drug discovery process?This week, we have a conversation with Kyle Tretina, Alliance Manager of AI Platforms at Insilico Medicine, on a wide range of subjects including drug discovery, undruggable targets, the collaboration with the University of Toronto, and more.00:58-05:11: About Insilico Medicine05:11-06:09: Why is AI in the news?06:09-07:39: Helping people through AI07:39-09:10: What is Insilico Medicine doing with AI?09:10-10:15: Does Insilico Medicine take drugs from idea to trials?10:15-11:32: How do your partnerships come about?11:32-19:34: How does drug development start with AI?19:34-24:43: Can AI address undruggable targets?24:43-25:05: What do you need to do after finding a potential drug?25:05-27:57: Can quantum computing aid drug development?27:57-30:13: How can AI help reduce costs and save time?30:13-32:56: What is your partnership with the University of Toronto?32:56-36:24: What is the timescale for introducing drugs from AI?36:24-37:29: What conditions are you working on?Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! Stay updated by subscribing to our newsletter

Aurion Biotech is a US biotech with a regenerative medicine platform, developing novel therapies to restore vision to millions of people in need. This week on the podcast, we have a conversation with CEO Greg Kunst about Aurion’s pipeline, and how the company’s treatment could be the first mass-market cell therapy available.The FDA has granted the company BTD and RMAT designations for AURN001 -- the first-ever allogeneic cell therapy candidate in development to restore vision in patients with corneal endothelial disease. This is a condition with around 16 million patients in the US, Japan and Europe alone. The current standard of care is currently transplant surgery.Aurion's proprietary process can turn cells from one donor cornea into more than treatments, with the potential to scale to more than 1,000, closing the gap on the global shortage of donor corneas.Aurion recently completed enrollment of a phase 1/2 trial in the US and Canada.00:43-01:53: About Aurion01:53-03:12: What are allogeneic cell therapies?03:12-04:11: Why is the eye a good target for allogeneic cell therapy?04:11-06:16: What is corneal endothelial disease?06:16-07:18: Is corneal endothelial disease genetic or just age related?07:18-09:22: Is transplant surgery the only option?09:22-10:58: Are other companies working on corneal endothelial disease treatments?10:58-12:26: How does your treatment work?12:26-13:36: Does your treatment alleviate the shortage of corneas?13:36-15:47: How would you get your treatments around the world?15:47-17:02: Could these treatments extend to other diseases?17:02-18:36: What do you need for a mass market treatment?18:36-19:36: Will there always be a need for this treatment?19:36-21:12: Is your treatment easy to administer? 21:12-22:41: What do the FDA designations mean for Aurion?22:41-24:38: Where are you with clinical trials?Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! Stay updated by subscribing to our newsletter

LabGenius is a drug discovery company developing next-generation therapeutic antibodies.  The company’s discovery platform, EVA, integrates several technologies drawn from the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), robotic automation and synthetic biology. LabGenius operates under a hybrid business model that involves partnering with large biotech and pharma companies while pursuing its own wholly-owned therapeutic pipeline.The company recently closed a £35 million Series B financing round, bringing its total funding to date to £58 million. The hype around generative AI and machine learning is driving unprecedented investor interest in AI. But are investors, and other drug discovery biotech companies, knowledgeable about AI and its role in drug discovery? To look at how AI is making a difference in medicine, and where the hype doesn’t meet expectations, we had a conversation with LabGenius founder and CEO, Dr. James Field. 01:09-02:38: About LabGenius02:38-05:45: What does your recent funding mean for your AI platform and pipeline?05:45-08:14: Do the terms AI and ML create and confusion?08:14-10:06: The positives of AI in drug discovery10:06-11:07: How to ask the right questions for AI to work11:07-12:44: Are investors up to speed on the use of AI in medicine?12:44-14:09: Where can AI help the most in the drug discovery process?14:09-15:18: Are there any areas where AI is just hype?15:18-16:37: Are you working towards clinical trials?16:37-19:16: How do companies plan an AI strategy?19:16-19:57: How useful are results from AI? 19:57-21:48: Should companies outsource AI?21:48-23:02: Do investors need advice on investment in AI companies?23:02-24:02: How do you see the evolution of AI in drug discovery?24:02-25:27: And how do you see the evolution of LabGenius?Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! Stay updated by subscribing to our newsletter

Acute on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is a significant healthcare issue with high unmet needs for patients and clinicians, and a massive burden for healthcare systems. It cost more than $6bn in the US alone in 2021, with a drastic increase over the last 10 years. Genfit is a late-stage biopharma company taking on rare, life-threatening liver diseases with a range of therapeutic targets based on pathophysiology. The company has five assets in its portfolio, from preclinical up to phase 2.Its ACLF portfolio includes five assets under development: VS-01, NTZ, SRT-015, CLM-022 and VS-02-HE, based on complementary mechanisms of action using different routes of administration. Other assets target other diseases, such as cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), urea cycle disorder (UCD) and organic acidemia (OA). Genfit carried out a successful 52-week phase 3 ELATIVE study evaluating elafibranor in primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). It also has a diagnostic franchise including NIS2+ in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH, formerly known as NASH or non-alcoholic steatohepatitis) and TS-01 focusing on blood ammonia levels.On the podcast this week to talk to us about the latest in liver disease treatment is Dean Hum, the chief scientific officer at Genfit.00:45-05:09: About Genfit05:09-06:59: What is acute on-chronic liver disease (ACLF)?06:59-08:30: What is the prognosis for those with ACLF?08:30-08:52: Are there any current treatments for ACLF?08:52-10:13: What is EF-CLIF?10:13-12:41: What is the EASL-CLIF general assembly?12:41-14:01: What is your connection to Ipsen’s work with elafibrinor?14:01-16:00: Why has there been so little work on ACLF?16:00-16:46: Are others working on ACLF?16:46-19:25: What is your approach to developing ACLF treatments?19:25-24:31: How do your ACLF treatments work?24:31-25:08: Will you need to do trials on the effect of the combination of your assets?25:08-28:37: What are your hopes for patients with ACLF?

The field of radiotherapeutics is a hot topic currently, and so who better to talk about the subject than Ken Herrmann, a radiopharmaceutical academic expert, who is Professor of Nuclear Medicine at the Universitätsklinikum Essen, in Essen Germany, and two people from the company Molecular Partners: Patrick Amstutz, who is a co-founder and the CEO, and Dani Steiner, SVP of R&D.Molecular Partners recently shared a preclinical package supporting MP0712, its radioligand candidate. Based on the small protein class they pioneered, DARPins, the company is looking to tackle the historic kidney toxicity of small protein vectors while preserving a good binding and specificity profile. This will have repercussions across its radioligand (or Radio-DARPin) portfolio, which has programs in partnership with Novartis and (in the case of MP0712) Orano Med. MP0712's key tumor target is DLL3, also the target of tarlatamab, the first bispecific against DLL3, which was approved recently. The program is focused on small-cell lung carcinoma (SCLC), a highly aggressive lung cancer with a five-year survival rate of about 3%. Molecular Partners said its data show strong and homogenous tumor uptake of 212PB-DLL3 targeted MP0712, as well as significant and durable inhibition of tumor growth. The data also show good tolerance at all dosing levels and an enhanced tumor-to-kidney uptake ratio. MP0712 is the first Radio-DARPin expected to enter the clinic with first-in-human data expected in 2025.  01:12-04:20: About Molecular Partners 04:20-06:34: What are radiotherapeutics, and what can they treat?06:34-11:36: What are some of the challenges facing radiopharma?11:36-13:20: Has there been a shortage of radioligands?13:20-16:38: How has Molecular Partners addressed challenges?16:38-27:59: What was the SNMMI conference, and what did it address?27:59-32:50: Where are you at with clinical trials?32:50-34:11: What do you see as the current trends?34:11-35:54: How are the treatments delivered to patients?35:54-36:50: How frequently are treatments needed?36:50-39:03: Where is radiotherapy headed? Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! Stay updated by subscribing to our newsletter

US-based biotech company Priovant Therapeutics is dedicated to developing novel therapies for autoimmune diseases with high morbidity and few available treatment options. The company's lead asset, brepocitinib, is a dual selective inhibitor of TYK2 and JAK1. Through dual TYK2/JAK1 inhibition, brepocitinib suppresses key cytokines linked to autoimmunity—including type I IFN, type II IFN, IL6, IL12, and IL23—with a single, targeted therapy. Brepocitinib has generated positive data in seven phase 2 studies with oral once-daily administration. It is currently being evaluated in a phase 3 program for dermatomyositis and is entering a phase 3 program for non-infectious uveitis.This week on the podcast we have a conversation with Priovant’s CEO Benjamin Zimmer about dermatomyositis, non-infectious uveitis, current treatments, potential options, and how brepocitinib is making a difference. 00:55-02:34: About Priovant02:34-06:38: What are dermatomyositis and non-infectious uveitis?06:38-08:35: What are the current treatments?08:35-12:32: What is brepocitinib?12:32-15:36: Are there other treatments in development? 15:36-17:50: What is your relationship with Pfizer?17:50-20:48: Brepocitinib clinical trials20:48-24:06: Future plans and timeline24:06-27:59: Finding patients for clinical trials27:59-29:19: Future opportunities Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! Stay updated by subscribing to our newsletter

Heidelberg Pharma is a clinical stage biotech company developing antibody drug conjugates (ADCs).Its lead amanitin-based ADC product candidate, HDP-101, targets relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. HDP-101 recently received orphan drug designation; it is currently in a phase I/IIa clinical trial, demonstrating first signs of clinical efficacy. The company is also expanding its therapeutic product pipeline with a further four programs across a variety of malignant hematologic and solid tumors.To tell us about how HDP-101 works, and what Heidelberg Pharma is doing in the space, we had a conversation with the company’s CEO, Prof. Andreas Pahl.00:55-02:05: About Heidelberg Pharma02:05-03:41: What are antibody-drug conjugates?03:41-05:27: Why are antibody-drug conjugates in the news currently?05:27-06:15: What is big pharma’s involvement in the field?06:15-07:04: Will there be more antibody-drug conjugate approvals?07:04-08:42: What can antibody-drug conjugates be used to treat?08:42-09:48: How do you avoid toxicity issues?09:48-10:31: How important is the linker?10:31-12:06: What is alpha-amanitin?12:06-13:28: How do you make a toxin not toxic?13:28-14:11: What tumor types can be targeted?14:11-15:59: How do you discover a toxin can treat a disease?15:59-17:38: How is alpha-amanitin delivered?17:38-19:27: Is alpha-amanitin a monotherapy?19:27-22:16: What clinical trials are you doing?22:16-23:31: What are the next steps now you have orphan drug designation?23:31-24:14: What are the timelines?24:14-25:36: Where are antibody-drug conjugates headed?25:36-27:14: Are AI and machine learning making an impact?Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! Stay updated by subscribing to our newsletter

Diamyd Medical develops precision medicine therapies for the prevention and treatment of Type 1 diabetes and LADA (latent autoimmune diabetes in adults). Diamyd is an antigen-specific immunomodulatory therapeutic for the preservation of endogenous insulin production. It has been granted Orphan Drug Designation in the U.S. as well as Fast Track Designation. DIAGNODE-3, a confirmatory phase 3 trial, uses injections into a superficial lymph node can to optimize the treatment response. This week on the podcast we have a conversation about treatments of type 1 diabetes, including the company’s development of Diamyd. Our guest is Anders Essen-Möller, founder and chairman of Diamyd Medical.00:51-19:16: Diamyd Medical’s approach to Type 1 diabetes19:16-21:03: Other approaches to tackling Type 1 diabetes21:03-22:08: Keeping costs of Type 1 diabetes treatment low22:08-22:53: Can Type 1 diabetes be cured?Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! Stay updated by subscribing to our newsletter

Rare diseases affect around 1 in 2,000 people. Many of the thousands of rare diseases are difficult to diagnose. Of the known rare diseases, about 80% have genetic causes.  Leukodystrophies are a group of rare genetic disorders for which there is currently no curative therapy.This week on the podcast we are discussing novel treatments of rare pediatric diseases in a conversation with Dan Williams, CEO, executive director and co-founder of Synaptix Bio. Synaptix Bio is working on developing treatments for severe leukodystrophies. The company has partnered with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to take a TUBB4a leukodystrophy therapy to the clinic and beyond. 01:41-05:08: About Synaptix Bio05:08-07:07: What are rare diseases?07:07-09:36: How do you develop treatments for rare diseases?09:36-11:15: How many rare diseases have treatments?11:15-13:32: What is the space looking like for companies looking to develop rare disease treatments?13:32-14:10: How does the fact that many rare diseases are genetic affect drug development?14:10-16:21: Do the low numbers of people with rare diseases affect funding and research? 16:21-17:55: Are the drugs being developed useful in treating other diseases?17:55-22:44: What is H-ABC?22:44-23:25: Are there any treatments for H-ABC? 23:25-25:15: Where is Synaptix Bio with clinical trials?25-15-27:40: How do you design clinical trials for H-ABC with the number of patients being low?This week’s podcast was sponsored by KBI Biopharma. Visit their facility in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 27, to join the discussion on solving biotherapeutic challenges. Register at kbibiopharma.com/conferences.Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! Stay updated by subscribing to our newsletter