Beyond Biotech - the podcast from Labiotech

1:13  Labiotech news3:09  Lund Spring Symposium27:36 SapientSapientSapient is an end-to-end biomarker discovery organization dedicated to accelerating the mapping of circulating chemistries in humans through rapid, large-scale small molecule biomarker profiling. Its platform combines next-generation mass spectrometry technologies capable of assaying tens of thousands of small molecule biomarkers in human biosamples, advanced biocomputational learning, and a proprietary Human Biology Database with extensive data from several hundred thousand biosamples. Together these approaches enable rapid discovery and validation of circulating biomarkers of health, disease, and drug responsiveness at unprecedented speed and scale.We spoke with founder and CEO of Sapient, Mo Jain. Lund Spring SymposiumThe inaugural Lund Spring Symposium held in Lund, Sweden from May 24 to 26. It was an impressive forum where an exceptional set of international and national top researchers, entrepreneurs, and business leaders gathered around the subject of ‘Enabling Novel Therapeutic Principles,’ with examples of actual treatment breakthroughs, as well as novel modalities across therapeutic areas ranging from cancer, COVID-19 to neuroscience.Six researchers were awarded for their groundbreaking discoveries and outstanding achievements: Craig Crews Yale University; Brian Kobilka, Stanford University; Robert Langer, MIT; Jude Samulski, University of North Carolina; Sarah Tabrizi, University College London; and Drew Weissman, University of Pennsylvania.The symposium also featured two other Nobel Prize laureates, David Julius, from the University of California San Francisco, who gave a presentation, and Bengt Samuelsson, after whom one of the awards was named.The organizer, Lars Grundemar, Lund University and AGB Pharma, decided together with Mikael Dolsten, Lund University, and chief scientific officer, president R&D, Pfizer, and Claes Wahlestedt, Lund University and University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, to create the event featuring high-profile international and local researchers at a symposium in Lund to raise the profile of pharmacology as a cross-functional discipline in the 21st century, and to provide a forum to facilitate collaborations across academia and industry.“This event was designed to reflect the importance of combining basic research with clinical applications and entrepreneurship in successful development of novel therapeutic principles,” Grundemar said. The symposium was intended for scientists and entrepreneurs to be an engaging and interactive forum to broaden the participants’ horizons of cutting-edge science.The Lund Spring Symposium will be held biannually, with the next event taking place in 2025.

This podcast discusses the ISCT annual meeting, focusing on the potential replacement of autologous cell therapy with allogeneic cell therapy and the role of exosomes in replacing mesenchymal stromal cells. They also explore the differences between autologous and allogeneic cell therapies, the use of AI and machine learning in cell and gene therapy, innovative platforms and products in the field, and the use of axosomes in mesenchymal stem cell therapy.

1:24  Labiotech news3:40  BC PlatformsA conversation about precision medicine with Tero Silvola, CEO at BC Platforms. We also discuss the acquisition of 4Pharma.The acquisition expands BCP’s global service offering for accelerating the translation of innovations into clinical practice. In addition, 4Pharma customers will benefit from additional services in the field of RWD through the BC Platform technology.4Pharma (HQ Turku, Finland and Lund, Sweden) was founded more than 20 years ago, and has collaborations with around 70 clients in the Nordics, Central Europe, and the U.S. The company has developed expertise in a range of therapeutic areas including oncology, neurology, ophthalmology, musculoskeletal, respiratory diseases, infectious diseases, and gynecology. The company provides medical research services in several areas: high-quality and cost-effective solutions for the management and delivery of clinical trial data, including real world data; medical writing; patient safety data collection, analysis, and reporting including data visualization; trial design & interpretation; health technology assessment; global regulatory submissions to the FDA (U.S.), EMA (Europe) and PMDA (Japan); and risk-based patient monitoring. With this acquisition BCP bolsters its capabilities in these areas for drug development and clinical research, which further diversifies its service portfolio for pharma and biotech clients.Tero Silvola, CEO at BC Platforms, said: “This exciting acquisition of the excellent 4Pharma brings impressive healthcare data intelligence expertise. It aligns with our vision to build a world leading analytics platform to enable the pharmaceutical industry’s advancement of precision medicine, improving the efficiency of drug development and patient outcomes. This expands our service offering to healthcare and lifesciences customers, as well as connecting data partners in a global, interoperable federated network. We combine omics and clinical data assets around the world, without compromising data privacy and security. This enables our customers to conduct novel research and discover fascinating new insights to advance healthcare which are fundamental to helping patients receive better treatments and care.”

1:18  Labiotech news3:37  BioInventBioInvent International AB, a Swedish biotech company focused on the discovery and development of novel and first-in-class immune-modulatory antibodies for cancer immunotherapy, and Transgene, a biotech company that designs and develops virus-based immunotherapeutics against cancer, recently announced positive phase 1a data on the oncolytic virus BT-001 for the treatment of solid tumors.BioInvent currently has four drug candidates in five ongoing clinical programs in Phase 1/2 trials for the treatment of hematological cancer and solid tumors, respectively. The company's validated, proprietary F.I.R.S.T technology platform identifies both targets and the antibodies that bind to them, generating many promising new drug candidates to fuel the company's own clinical development pipeline and providing licensing and partnering opportunities.BioInvent generates revenues from research collaborations and license agreements with multiple top-tier pharmaceutical companies, as well as from producing antibodies for third parties in the company's fully integrated manufacturing unit.We spoke with CEO Martin Welschof and Cecilia Hofvander, senior director investor relations.

1:33  Labiotech news3:31  Daiichi Sankyo/AstraZenecaThe companies Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca have worked together for several years.This week’s podcast is sponsored by Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca.On this week’s podcast, we have a conversation with Markus Kosch, the head of Oncology Europe and Canada for Daiichi Sankyo, and Greg Rossi, Senior Vice President, Oncology, Europe and Canada, from AstraZeneca, who are joining forces to bring new oncology medicines into clinical practice. In March 2019, AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo entered into a global collaboration to jointly develop and commercialize health technologies worldwide. Their collaboration is designed to leverage strengths and combine efforts to improve patient care.

4:26  Labiotech news6:36  Medidata21:43 Bill & Melinda Gates Research InstituteThis week’s podcast is sponsored by Jubilant Biosys.May 20 is International Clinical Trials Day.ECRIN,  the European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network, is a not-for-profit organization that supports the conduct of multinational clinical trials in Europe. Based in Paris, France, the organization launched International Clinical Trials Day (ICTD) in 2005 to commemorate the day when James Lind started his clinical trial on scurvy in 1747, on May 20.ECRIN is hosting an event, both in-person and online, on Monday, May 23, called Decentralised Clinical Trials: challenges and opportunities. While the physical event in Warsaw, Poland, is full, online registration can be found here.International Clinical Trials Day is also supported and promoted by a range of charities, companies and organizations, such as the 13,000-member Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP), which is the only non-profit organization solely dedicated to representing, supporting, and advocating for clinical research professionals.To celebrate the day, we have two interviews about the importance of the event and clinical trials in general. We have conversations with Dr. Michael Dunne, head of development and chief medical officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute, and Kelly McKee, vice president, decentralized clinical trials (DCT) and patient registries at Medidata.

This week’s podcast is sponsored by Quantoom.International MPS Awareness DayMay is the big month when it comes to awareness - there are almost 100 awareness months, weeks, and days being marked.Some of these are well known conditions. Others, however, are less prominent.International MPS (mucopolysaccharidosis) Awareness Day takes place on May 15.According to the National MPS Society in the U.S., mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) and mucolipidosis (ML) are genetic lysosomal storage diseases (LSD) caused by the body’s inability to produce specific enzymes. The missing or insufficient enzyme prevents cells from recycling waste, resulting in the storage of materials in cells throughout the body. As the disease progresses, there is widespread damage throughout the body, including the heart, bones, joints, respiratory system and central nervous system, leading to a shortened lifespan.There are 12 different forms of MPS.For example, MPS I includes Hurler Syndrome, Scheie Syndrome and Hurler-Scheie Syndrome, while MPS II covers Hunter Syndrome.Hurler Syndrome takes its name from Gertrude Hurler, the doctor who described a boy and girl with the condition in 1919. In 1962, Dr. Scheie, a consultant ophthalmologist, wrote about patients who were more mildly affected. Individuals who do not fit the severe or mild ends of the disease were said to have Hurler/Scheie. The specific disease names have been replaced with the designations attenuated (diminished severity) and severe MPS I. MPS I has a wide range of symptoms that vary in severity and can be managed and treated with enzyme replacement therapies. There is no cure for MPS I. Mucopolysaccharides are chains of sugar molecules used to build connective tissues in the body. MPS I patients are missing the enzyme alpha-L-iduronidase, which is essential in breaking down the mucopolysaccharides dermatan sulfate and heparan sulfate. These materials remain stored in the body’s cells, causing progressive damage. Babies may show little sign of the disease, but as cells sustain damage, symptoms start to appear.To talk about the disease, treatments, research, and the future prognosis for those with MPS, is Dr Matthew Ellinwood, chief scientific officer at the National MPS Society.

3:32  Labiotech news5:33  Lupus interviewThis week’s podcast is sponsored by Lonza.May is Lupus Awareness Month, and to talk about lupus with us this week on the podcast are Katherine Tran, senior global market development & marketing manager of the proteomics division at SCIEX, and Allan Stensballe, associate professor, Department of Health Science and Technology and associate professor, The Faculty of Medicine, at Aalborg Universitet in Denmark.Each May, The Lupus Foundation of America gathers the lupus community to make lupus visible.Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease where the immune system can’t tell the difference between healthy tissues and foreign invaders. This can result in inflammation, pain, and damage to any organ system in the body. Common symptoms include extreme fatigue, debilitating joint pain, skin rashes, and swelling. While lupus can affect anyone, people with lupus overwhelmingly consist of women and disproportionately impacts certain racial and ethnic backgrounds, including Black/African-American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian-American and Pacific Islander.Due to the mysterious and elusive nature of this disease, many of the symptoms of lupus aren’t always visible, and can often result in years of misdiagnosis and inadequate treatment. And, because many of its symptoms and impact aren’t always seen, it can lead to those living with lupus to feel misunderstood and isolated.

2:13  Labiotech news5:17  bit.bioThis week’s podcast is sponsored by Scientist.com.The mainstream news in the past couple of months has picked up on artificial intelligence (AI). Not so much its uses, more the potential for conflict and fears over AI developing too quickly, or ‘taking over humanity.’Debates have sprung up around deepfakes, ChatGPT, and other AI technologies, and there are concerns over how new technology will impact our everyday lives. The debate covers ethics, regulations, law, education; in fact AI and the future seem intertwined. AI has been around for some time, it’s just increased sophistication has brought it more into the spotlight. There are many positives to AI, not least in the life sciences. We now have the potential to analyze far more data, and there is real potential for identification of new drugs and drug targets being found through new technology. Of course, AI has other applications in science, such as climate change and sustainability, and in food technology.  AI and machine learning were just some of the topics Labiotech discussed with Mark Kotter, CEO of U.K. biotech bit.bio.bit.bio is a synthetic biology company providing human cells for research, drug discovery and cell therapy. The company applies a patented safe harbor gene-targeting approach to inducibly express transcription factor combinations that reprogram human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into highly defined and mature human cell types. The company is currently building a clinical pipeline and marketing a range of cells and disease models for research and drug discovery under its ioCells brand. This includes nerve cells, immune cells and muscle cells. The company was spun out of the University of Cambridge in 2016, and has since raised $150 million capital from Arch Ventures, Foresite Capital, Milky Way, Charles River Laboratories, National Resilience, Tencent, and Puhua Capital among others.

2:05  Labiotech news3:32  MEET2WIN9:38 Lund Spring Symposium19:31 MerckThis week, we’re talking about the upcoming Lund Spring Symposium with Claes Wahlestedt, Leonard M. Miller professor and director of the Center for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI) and associate dean for therapeutic innovation at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine;  about Meet2Win with Lucia Robert, CEO of MATWIN which stages the event; and then an interview with two people, Andrew Clutterbuck, associate director MSAT EMEA and Mark Peacock,  director, technical applications, from Merck.This week’s podcast is sponsored by Merck.Merck is a science and technology company, operates across life science, healthcare and electronics. The company provides products and services that accelerate drug development and manufacturing as well as discovering ways to treat the most challenging diseases to enable the intelligence of devices. Merck holds the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The only exceptions are the U.S. and Canada, where the business sectors of Merck operate as MilliporeSigma in life science.Lund Spring SymposiumA new event, which will include presentations by Nobel laureates, is set to showcase the best of pharmacology.The Lund Spring Symposium, which takes place from May 24 to 26 at the Palaestra et Odeum in Lund, Sweden, aims to raise the profile of pharmacology as a cross-functional discipline in the 21st Century and to provide a forum to facilitate collaborations across academia and industry.MEET2WINThe 8th annual MEET2WIN event takes place in Bordeaux, France, from May 11 to 12. The MEET2WIN convention, staged by MATWIN (Maturation & Accelerating Translation With Industry) brings together nearly 300 European players specifically involved in translational research and innovation in oncology (researchers, clinicians, entrepreneurs, biotechs, pharmaceutical groups, investors, support structures, etc.) looking to expand their network of contacts and optimize their collaboration around the fight against cancer.More than 1,000 companies and organizations attend the event, with more than 5,000 meetings scheduled.