Beyond Biotech - the podcast from Labiotech

French company CellProthera has seen some remarkable results treating people who have had a heart attack.  On this week’s podcast, the company’s CEO Matthieu de Kalbermatten tells us how it works.01:00-03:29: About CellProthera03:30-06:30: What are ProtheraCytes?06:30-09:02: Is this a cure?09:02-10:24: Is prevention the best option?10:25-11:49: Is this therapy useful to treat other conditions?11:50-13:55: How quickly do you need to treat a patient?13:56-16:39: The field of regenerative therapy16:39-17:52: Is regenerative therapy a growing sector?17:53-18:26: Clinical trials18:26-19:22: Upcoming phase 3 trials19:22-20:36: The regulatory pathway20:37-23:25: Cost and scale23:25-24:20: The need for partnerships24:21-24:57: Next steps24:57-28:30: Is there excitement in the medical field for this treatment?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

On today’s podcast, Jean-Philip Piquemal, the chief scientific officer and co-founder of Qubit Pharmaceuticals, explains how the company’s Atlas platform is leading the way to more effective and safer drugs.00:54-01:52: The history of Qubit Pharmaceuticals01:52-04:04: What is the Atlas software?04:04-05:18: Failing quickly is the key05:19-06:53: What are digital twins?06:54-09:00: Improving safety, reducing costs, and boosting drug discovery09:00-10:44: Areas of interest10:44-13:21: Recent successes13:23-14:57: Preparing for future pandemics14:58-17:03: Staying ahead of other companies17:04-18:29: Enough diseases to go around18:30-20:11: Upgrading Atlas software20:13-21:59: How Qubit works with pharma companies21:59-24:41: The Quantum for Bio program24:42-27:58: Looking to the future, and helping patients 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

This week, our guest on the podcast is Jason C. Foster, CEO of Ori Biotech.Ori is a London, U.K. and New Jersey, U.S. based manufacturing technology company pioneering flexible process discovery with translation and scalable commercialization of cell and gene therapies (CGT). Ori has developed a proprietary, full stack manufacturing platform that closes, automates and standardizes CGT manufacturing allowing therapeutics developers to develop and bring their products to market at commercial scale. The promise of the Ori platform is to fully automate CGT manufacturing to increase throughput, improve quality and decrease costs by combining proprietary hardware, software, data and analytics.Ori was founded in 2015 by Dr Farlan Veraitch from University College London.The company also produces a monthly report on its website, which covers the latest in CGT approvals, regulations, trials and industry news.

Mark Kotter, founder of clock.bio and CEO of bit.bio, discusses the potential of using human pluripotent stem cells to reverse the harmful effects of time in our cells. The podcast covers the development of aging models, unbiased CRISPR screens, and the identification of gene candidates for cell rejuvenation. The goal is to extend health span by 20 years and create novel treatment approaches based on biomarkers of aging.

This week's podcast features Fred Aslan, CEO of Artiva Biotherapeutics, discussing the potential of natural killer (NK) cells in cancer treatment. They explore the challenges in developing NK cell therapy, the collaboration with AffiMed to enhance NK cell activity, upcoming milestones for the company in 2024, and the difficulties in finding participants for clinical trials in the biotech field.

Compared to the smallest mRNA molecule, which is 300 nucleotides long, the largest transfer RNAs (tRNA) is less than a third of the size at 76 nucleotides. Scientists at Alltrna are harnessing the unique biology of tRNAs to engineer a single tRNA medicine that could treat thousands of rare diseases that share the same genetic mutation. This year, Alltrna presented at ASGCT the first demonstration that an engineered, modified tRNA could recognize and correct, in vivo, a flawed mRNA instruction no matter where it occurred in the genome.Alltrna, which was founded in 2018 by Flagship Pioneering, recently announced it had raised $109 million in a Series B financing to advance the company’s platform and first drug candidates towards the clinic for a first indication in Stop Codon Disease.  Stop Codon Disease encompasses ​​thousands of rare and common diseases that arise from premature termination codons (PTC), also known as nonsense mutations, where the code for an amino acid has been mutated into a premature “stop” codon. This results in a truncated or shortened protein product with no or altered biological activity that causes disease. Approximately 10% of all people with a genetic disease have Stop Codon Disease, representing approximately 30 million people worldwide. Alltrna’s tRNA medicines can read these PTC mutations and deliver the desired amino acid, thereby restoring the production of the full-length protein.The company’s platform incorporates artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to ‘learn’ the tRNA language and deliver diverse, programmable molecules with broad therapeutic potential. This week, our conversation is with Alltrna CEO, Michelle Werner.To learn more about the topic, we invite you to read the following article:  Will tRNA therapy be the next big thing in genetic disease treatment?

Disease X, a concept shrouded in mystery, represents the unknown pathogens that could unleash future epidemics or pandemics. In the wake of recent global health crises, our understanding of the profound impact of those pandemics has deepened. On this week’s podcast, we have a conversation with Hamilton Bennett, who led Moderna’s mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine development program team to the authorized use and approval of one of the earliest and most effective vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic. Bennett is Moderna’s senior director of vaccine access and partnerships, and has unparalleled insights into the world of infectious diseases. In this in-depth discussion, Bennett talks about the origins of Disease X, the role of mRNA technology in tackling pandemics, and the importance of preparedness.Disease X was intended to be a placeholder name; it was adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in February 2018 on their shortlist of blueprint priority diseases to represent a hypothetical, unknown pathogen that could cause a future epidemic.

Portage Biotech aims to expand the number of patients benefiting from immunotherapies. They are developing precision immuno-oncology therapies like natural killer T cell engagers and adenosine inhibitors. The CEO, Dr. Ian Walters, shares their unique approach to targeting resistant pathways. Portage Biotech is focused on collaborations and conducting randomized studies to show the efficacy of their drugs. The speakers also discuss challenges in clinical trials and the impact of COVID-19.

This week’s podcast is sponsored by Vetter.On this week’s episode, we have a conversation with Steve Worland, CEO of eFFECTOR Therapeutics.eFFECTOR is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering the development of a new class of oncology drugs referred to as STRIs (selective translation regulation inhibitors). eFFECTOR’s STRI product candidates target the eIF4F complex and its activating kinase, mitogen-activated protein kinase interacting kinase (MNK). The eIF4F complex is a central node where two of the most frequently mutated signaling pathways in cancer, the PI3K-AKT and RAS-MEK pathways, converge to activate the translation of select mRNA into proteins that are frequent culprits in key disease-driving processes. The company’s product candidates are designed to act on a single protein that drives the expression of a network of functionally related proteins, including oncoproteins and immunosuppressive proteins in T cells, that together control tumor growth, survival and immune evasion. The lead product candidate, tomivosertib, is an MNK inhibitor currently being evaluated in KICKSTART, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2b trial of tomivosertib in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Zotatifin, eFFECTOR’s inhibitor of eIF4A, is currently being evaluated in phase 2a expansion cohorts in certain biomarker-positive solid tumors, including ER+ breast cancer and KRAS-mutant NSCLC. eFFECTOR has a global collaboration with Pfizer to develop inhibitors of a third target, eIF4E.

Cue Biopharma is researching cytokine-based drugs to activate T cells against tumors. Their approach delivers cytokines specifically to cancer cells for targeted treatment. The podcast discusses the advantages of cytokine-based drugs in cancer treatment, including shorter treatment time and increased overall survival. They highlight promising results in activating the immune system and mention the potential of cell therapies.