Biotech 2050 Podcast

Synopsis: Detlev Biniszkiewicz is the Founder and CEO of NextPoint Therapeutics, a company advancing the field of immuno-oncology through its leading scientific work on the novel HHLA2 pathway. Detlev discusses the immuno-oncology landscape including its challenges and opportunities, and the work his team is pursuing at NextPoint to deliver new therapies to cancer patients. He talks about how he o...

Synopsis: Eric Dobmeier is the President and CEO of Chinook Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company discovering, developing and commercializing precision medicines for rare, severe chronic kidney diseases. Eric discusses how his early years as a lawyer working in-house as general counsel for Seattle Genetics (now Seagen), ultimately led him to running his own biotech company. He t...

Synopsis: Faraz Ali is the CEO of Tenaya Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company with a mission to discover, develop and deliver potentially curative therapies that address the underlying causes of heart disease. Faraz discusses his non-traditional background as an electrical engineer before he found his passion for applying science and technology to healthcare problems. He talks abou...

Synopsis: Gregory Verdine, Ph. D., is the Co-Founder, President and CEO of LifeMine Therapeutics and FogPharma. LifeMine Therapeutics is reinventing drug discovery by mining genetically-encoded small molecules (GEMs) from the biosphere. FogPharma is developing a new class of drugs to address the limitations of today’s precision medicines and achieve universal druggability. In this episode, Greg di...

Synopsis: Kate Haviland is the CEO of Blueprint Medicines, a global precision therapy company that creates life-changing medicines for people with cancer and blood disorders. Applying an approach that is both precise and agile, they create medicines that selectively target genetic drivers, with the goal of staying one step ahead across stages of disease. Kate discusses beginning her career at Genz...

Synopsis: Asit Parikh, M.D., Ph. D., is the President and CEO of MOMA Therapeutics, a biotech company discovering the next generation of precision medicines by targeting highly dynamic proteins that underlie human disease. Asit discusses his experience and learnings being the CEO of a biotech for the first time and his approach to recruiting high quality talent. He also talks about the inherent ri...

Synopsis: Samir Ounzain is the CEO and Co-Founder of HAYA Therapeutics, a precision medicines company developing RNA-guided programmable therapeutics targeting the regulatory genome for serious health conditions including fibrosis. Samir discusses the current landscape as it relates to precision medicine and genomic medicine and what his team is hoping to achieve over the next year. He also talks...

Synopsis: Sekar Kathiresan is the Co-Founder, CEO and Board Member of Verve Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing gene editing medicines to treat patients with cardiovascular disease. Sekar discusses Verve’s work developing single-course, in vivo liver-directed gene editing medicines for patients with and at risk of cardiovascular disease and what the company pipeline loo...

Synopsis: Harlan Robins, Ph. D., is the CSO and Co-Founder of Adaptive Biotechnologies, a pioneer and leader in immune-driven medicine that aims to improve people’s lives by learning from the wisdom of their adaptive immune systems. Adaptive’s proprietary immune profiling platform reveals and translates insights from our adaptive immune systems with unprecedented scale and precision. Harlan discus...

Synopsis: Dr. Paul Bolno is the President and CEO of Wave Life Sciences, a clinical-stage RNA medicines company committed to delivering life-changing treatments for people battling devastating diseases including Duchenne muscular dystrophy and Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. Paul discusses his early years at GSK and the events that led him to join Wave as CEO, and some of his early learnings durin...

Synopsis: Garo Armen, Ph. D., is the Chairman and CEO of Agenus, an immuno-oncology company with the goal of treating cancers with novel combinations utilizing its unique portfolio of checkpoint antibodies, tumor microenvironment modifiers, vaccines and adjuvants. After receiving his Ph. D. in chemistry, Dr. Armen worked on Wall Street where he specialized in specialty pharmaceutical companies as...

Synopsis: Craig Thompson is the CEO of Cerevance, a clinical-stage drug discovery and development company focused on developing novel therapeutics for central nervous system diseases. He discusses the arc of his career, beginning at big pharma at Merck and Pfizer before transitioning to biotech, and his learnings along the way. As CEO, he shares what he’s learned about developing a relationship wi...

Synopsis: We recorded this episode in December 2022 with Florian Brand and Srinivas Rao, the Co-Founders and CEO & CSO, respectively, of atai Life Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company that leverages a decentralized platform approach to incubate and accelerate the development of highly effective mental health treatments that address the unmet needs of patients, including psychedelics and digital t...

Synopsis: Kevin Judice is the Co-Founder and CEO of DICE Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing transformative medicines for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Kevin trained as an organic chemist in graduate school before beginning his career at Genentech in the early 90s. He talks about stepping into the CEO role for the first time at DICE, the challenges of mainta...

Synopsis: Tariq Kassum, M.D. is the CEO of Celsius Therapeutics, a company pioneering new precision medicines in inflammatory disease by harnessing the power of single-cell RNA sequencing and human biology at scale. Tariq shares his unique journey from med school, to working in Wall Street as a biotech investment banker and stock analyst, to the corporate side working at Millennium Pharmaceuticals...

Synopsis: Prakash Raman, Ph. D., is the President and CEO of Ribon Therapeutics, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company pursuing the development of novel small molecules targeting stress support pathways in cancer and inflammation. A medicinal chemist by training, Prakash discusses his professional development and the evolution of his strategic thinking as he went from chemist, to project mana...

Synopsis: Joel Schneider, Ph. D. and Robert Kotin, Ph. D. are the President & CEO and Founder & Chief Technology Advisor, respectively, of Carbon Biosciences, an emerging leader in the development of novel parvovirus-derived gene therapies. Joel and Robert sit down with host Rahul Chaturvedi to discuss the arc of their careers, how the AAV field has changed over the last decade, and how they appro...

Synopsis: Matt Gline is the CEO of Roivant Sciences, a company that delivers innovative medicines and technologies to patients by building Vants – nimble, entrepreneurial biotech and healthcare technology companies. Matt discusses his transition from CFO to CEO at Roivant and how he prepared to step into the CEO role for the first time. He talks about Roivant’s model and how it’s different from ot...

Synopsis: Jack Bailey is the CEO of G1 Therapeutics, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and delivery of next generation therapies that improve the lives of those affected by cancer. Jack worked at Eli Lilly for 19 years followed by GSK for 12 years, and served on the company board at G1 Therapeutics before stepping into the role of CEO. Jack provides...

Synopsis: Nabiha Saklayen, PhD, is the Co-Founder and CEO of Cellino Biotech, a company working to democratize access to personalized stem cell-based therapies for patients at scale. Nabiha joins host Rahul Chaturvedi for a discussion about her entrepreneurial journey and her learning process in the early days of building a start-up. She talks about opportunities and challenges in the field of reg...

Synopsis: Andrew Allen is the Co-Founder, President and CEO of Gritstone bio, a clinical-stage biotech company developing groundbreaking immunotherapies for cancers and infectious diseases such as COVID-19 and HIV. Gristone seeks to generate a therapeutic immune response by leveraging insights into the immune system’s ability to recognize and destroy diseased cells by targeting select antigens. An...

Synopsis: Nicki Thompson is the CEO of Amphista Therapeutics, a company identifying and advancing novel approaches in targeted protein degradation to develop a new generation of innovative therapies. Nicki spent the first 20 years of her career in big pharma at GSK before joining the biotech industry. She shares her thoughts on how the interaction points between biotech and pharma have changed ove...

Disclaimer: Anything that is express in the following conversation are Michael's views and not necessarily those of Roche / Genentech. Synopsis: Michael Rosenblatt is the Vice President of Clinical Operations at Roche, leading their organization to reduce hierarchy, embrace agility, and increase engagement. Michael has spent the last 11 years between regulatory and clinical operations in late stag...

Synopsis: Josh Mandel-Brehm is the President and CEO of CAMP4 Therapeutics, a company pioneering mRNA amplification by using programmable ASO therapeutics to control gene expression. He joins host Rahul Chaturverdi to discuss the arc of his career and his interest in the intersection of business and science. They dive into the origins of CAMP4 and the inspiration behind the company’s name. He also...

Synopsis: This special episode features a panel discussion with three biotech leaders about drug development for rare diseases. James Mackay, Ph. D., is the Founder, President and CEO of Aristea Therapeutics, an immunology-focused clinical stage biotech that is focused on inflammatory diseases. Arthur T. Suckow, Ph. D., is the Co-Founder and CEO of DTx Pharma, which is focused on developing novel...