BioCentury This Week

Cross-border geopolitical tensions and a prolonged capital crunch are compelling biopharma companies from Beijing to Boston to rethink their strategies on everything from deal-making and raising capital to manufacturing and use of CROs. On a special edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast, McKinsey’s Franck Le Deu and Wendy Pan of BayHelix and Goodwin join BioCentury on the eve of next week’s eleventh annual BioCentury-BayHelix China Healthcare Summit in Shanghai to discuss the dynamics affecting biotechs in China looking beyond the country’s borders and Western biopharma companies seeking innovation and partners in China, as well as the latest trends, such as U.S. VCs and/or management teams building newcos around China assets. They also detail highlights among the three-day event’s speakers, panels and fireside chats.The BioCentury-BayHelix China Healthcare Summit will take place Oct. 30 through Nov. 1 at the St. Regis Shanghai Jian in Shanghai. For information on registering to attend and/or becoming a presenting company, click here.View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/65395900:00 - Introduction03:32 - The View from BayHelix06:59 - The View from McKinsey18:57 - Summit HighlightsTo submit a question to BioCentury’s editors, email the BioCentury This Week team at podcasts@biocentury.com.Reach us by sending a text

At least 25 venture firms have raised a total of more than $17 billion in funds this year, with Forbion unveiling the largest-ever European biopharma fund at €1.2 billion last week. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss how Forbion deployed its prior fund and quickly raised fresh funds and what that — and other funds — say about the state of financing private biotechs in Europe and elsewhere.The editors then assess takeaways from BioCentury’s conversation with NIH’s Daniel Reich on data that could shape drug development’s future for progressive multiple sclerosis, and neurodegeneration broadly, as well as how the first clinical data from an RNA-editing oligonucleotide therapy from Wave Life Sciences demonstrate that it’s possible to change a single base in an RNA to correct a disease-causing mutation in patients.View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/65392400:00 - Introduction02:48 - VC Funds11:50 - New Chapter for MS23:48 - Wave's DataTo submit a question to BioCentury’s editors, email the BioCentury This Week team at podcasts@biocentury.com.Reach us by sending a text

There is a growing mandate among researchers and VCs to provide proof of causal human biology for new targets. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss the different strategies being deployed to identify causal links to disease using observational patient data or human cell models, including the challenges that come with each approach and the various computational methodologies companies are using.They also discuss the outcome of FDA’s advisory committee meeting on Barth syndrome candidate elamipretide from Stealth Biotherapeutics, and the implications of the discussion for review of ultrarare disease therapies more broadly.Diving into the deal of the day, the editors review the proposal by H. Lundbeck to acquire Longboard Pharmaceuticals for $2.6 billion, and discuss how the biotech’s therapy for developmental epilepsies may stack up against competitors.View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/65384300:00 - Introduction00:34 - Causal Biology and Big Data17:52 - FDA's Ultra-Rare Decision27:29 - Lundbeck Acquires LongboardTo submit a question to BioCentury’s editors, email the BioCentury This Week team at podcasts@biocentury.com.Reach us by sending a text

Biopharma buysiders and bankers at long last believe the conditions are ripe for biotech growth and outperformance, BioCentury’s Stephen Hansen says on the latest BioCentury This Week podcast. Hansen and colleagues take stock of the sector’s growth potential after three long years of the bear market as they discuss BioCentury’s 4Q24 Public Markets Preview.Also on this week’s show, Washington Editor Steve Usdin discusses his Editor’s Commentary, in which he argues that FDA leaders planned reforms for its advisory committee process fall far short of what they need to do. Usdin then delivers takeaways from the most recent edition of BioCentury This Week’s sister podcast, The BioCentury Show, which features a behind-the-scenes look at CMS’s anti-amyloid mAb decision-making process with Lee Fleisher, the former CMO of the agency.Finally, BioCentury’s Josh Berlin joins the podcast to preview the eleventh annual BioCentury-BayHelix China Healthcare Summit, which runs Oct. 30 to Nov. 1 in Shanghai. The theme of this year’s conference, which features panels of pharma BD&L leaders and blue chip investors as well as a lineup of presenting companies, is reinventing your China strategy.00:00 - Introduction02:13 - 4Q Public Markets Preview16:16 - What's on at the China Summit28:25 - Fixing FDA's Advisory Panels34:09 - Recap: The BioCentury Show with Lee FleisherView full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/653793To submit a question to BioCentury’s editors, email the BioCentury This Week team at podcasts@biocentury.com.Reach us by sending a text

Approval of BMS’s first-in-class schizophrenia drug is good news for patients and the company’s thinning pipeline alike, but maximizing Cobenfy’s commercial potential depends on readouts in additional indications. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors assess the significance of the new therapy and what the pharma needs to do to make its launch a success.They also discuss the impact of the withdrawal of Pfizer's sickle cell therapy; the work left unfinished on biotech-related legislation in Congress; BioAge's NASDAQ IPO; and the importance of FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee meeting on the use of PD-1 inhibitors in patients with certain tumors expressing low levels of PD-L1. This episode of BioCentury This Week was sponsored by Parexel Biotech.View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/65373200:01 - Sponsor Message: Parexel BioTech01:41 - BMS Schizophrenia Drug12:28 - Pfizer Withdrawal's Oxbryta18:26 - ODAC and PDL123:56 - D.C. Update26:51 - BioAge IPOTo submit a question to BioCentury’s editors, email the BioCentury This Week team at podcasts@biocentury.com.Reach us by sending a text

The ESMO Congress yielded another win for cancer immunotherapy target TIGIT, but the readout resurfaced worries about the mechanism’s past failures to turn positive earlier stage data into Phase III success. On a special edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors deliver their takeaways from this year’s meeting, including analysis of data for TIGIT blocker belrestotug from iTeos Therapeutics, a colorectal cancer readout featuring J&J's Rybrevant and an antibody-drug conjugate from Genmab. The BioCentury team is joined by Gwyn Bebb, who is global franchise head for oncology at podcast sponsor Parexel. Bebb discusses what’s changed in the oncology landscape in the 10 years since the approval of the first immunotherapies, observations that COVID-19 vaccines might have a role in treating cancer and developments in the radiopharma field. This episode of BioCentury This Week was sponsored by Parexel Biotech.View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/65368100:01 - Sponsor Message: Parexel BioTech01:55 - iTeos' TIGIT Data04:56 - Rybrevant Colorectal07:22 - Gwyn Bebb's Take21:38 - More ESMO HighlightsTo submit a question to BioCentury’s editors, email the BioCentury This Week team at podcasts@biocentury.com.Reach us by sending a text

Rep. Frank Pallone’s misunderstanding of how the pediatric priority review voucher program works has been one factor undermining support for an incentive that brings new drugs to kids, argues Washington Editor Steve Usdin on the latest BioCentury This Week podcast. Usdin explains how the voucher process works and why it’s valuable to the country’s youngest patients, as well as to small biotechs and larger biopharma alike.Usdin also discusses the latest twists and turns for the Biosecure Act, and BioCentury’s Stephen Hansen assesses the obesity data from Novo Nordisk that destroyed more than $30 billion in value for the Danish pharma. This episode of BioCentury This Week was sponsored by Parexel Biotech.View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/65363300:01 - Sponsor Message: Parexel Biotech01:47 - Pediatric PRVs06:42 - Biosecure Act12:44 - Novo's Obesity MissTo submit a question to BioCentury’s editors, email the BioCentury This Week team at podcasts@biocentury.com.Reach us by sending a text

On a special edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors deliver their takeaways from the debut Grand Rounds conference, which focused on whether biotech can write a more successful playbook for translating from target to product. Weaving together takeaways from the panels, fireside chat and keynote at the conference, the editors assess the tensions between generalizability and fit-for-purpose models, between having control and capturing complexity, and, in human data, between scale and robustness/reliability, particularly for longitudinal readouts. The editors also discuss BioCentury's Q&A with USC Keck School’s Patrick Lyden, who explained how high-quality, reproducible preclinical science can be feasible.View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/65363100:00 - Introduction02:56 - Generalizability vs. Fit for Purpose10:03 - Control vs. Complexity17:57 - Scale vs. Robustness in Human Data26:25 - Hypothesis-Driven vs. Unbiased Research28:50 - Grand Rounds 2025To submit a question to BioCentury’s editors, email the BioCentury This Week team at podcasts@biocentury.com.Reach us by sending a text

Biotech IPOs are on the rise, with three companies making successful NASDAQ debuts. The discussion dives into the parallels between GLP-1 treatments for obesity and the successful PD-1 cancer drugs. There's also a thrilling exploration of how AI is transforming biopharma, from data quality to innovative strategies. Recent conferences shed light on future trends in obesity research and the evolving investment landscape for tech and biotech firms. Tune in for insights that blend market dynamics and groundbreaking scientific developments!

Will bispecifics be the drugs to dethrone cancer’s biggest blockbusters? Akeso is the latest company with a bispecific to impress in a head-to-head study, this one for non-small cell lung cancer. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss the latest data from Akeso’s ivonescimab, a VEGFxPD-1 bispecific antibody that went up against Keytruda pembrolizumab in one of its largest indications, first-line non-small cell lung cancer.The editors also discuss data from  Vaxcyte that the infectious disease company parlayed into the year’s largest follow-on financing and a new initiative by FDA veteran Janet Woodcock to bolster quality in biopharmas’ manufacturing. This episode of BioCentury This Week was sponsored by Parexel Biotech.View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/65350700:01 - Sponsor Message: Parexel Biotech01:39 - Akeso's Bispecific Challenge08:22 - Vaxcyte Pneumococcal Vaccine12:32 - Woodcock's Quality Initiative14:48 - Recap: The BioCentury Show on BiosimilarsReach us by sending a text