Biotech Business with Fexingo: Life Sciences Startups, Drug Discovery, and FDA Approvals

Episode 79 of Biotech Business with Fexingo dives into how startups are using AI-designed proteins to solve drug delivery's biggest challenge: getting therapeutics to the right cells. Lucas and Luna explore the case of Seattle-based startup Vilya, which raised $53 million in Series A last month to design hyperstable protein carriers that can encapsulate small molecule drugs and release them only i...

In this episode of Biotech Business with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna dive into how biotech startups are leveraging microfluidics for single-cell analysis. They explore Mission Bio's Tapestri platform, which uses microfluidic droplets to barcode and sequence individual cells, enabling detection of rare clones in cancer and other diseases. The hosts discuss the technology's evolution from academic labs...

In this episode of Biotech Business, Lucas and Luna explore how biotech startups are using de novo protein design to create entirely new proteins from scratch for therapeutic applications. They focus on the pioneering work of David Baker's lab at the University of Washington and spinout companies like Sana Biotechnology and Neoleukin Therapeutics, which is now A-Alpha Bio. Lucas explains how compu...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how biotech startups are using aptamers — short, single-stranded DNA or RNA molecules — as synthetic alternatives to monoclonal antibodies. Unlike antibodies, aptamers are chemically synthesized, cheaper to produce, and more stable at room temperature. The hosts discuss Base Pair Biotechnologies, a startup that has built a platform for rapidly generating apt...

Episode 75 of Biotech Business with Fexingo dives into the emerging field of microbiome modulation as a therapeutic strategy. Lucas and Luna explore how startups are engineering gut bacteria to treat metabolic and immune disorders, focusing on a concrete case: a biotech using a genetically modified Lactobacillus strain to reduce systemic inflammation in a Phase 2 trial for non-alcoholic steatohepa...

Episode 74 of Biotech Business with Fexingo dives into the world of synthetic biology and how startups are engineering microbes to produce sustainable ingredients for food, cosmetics, and materials. Lucas and Luna explore the case of Perfect Day, the company that created animal-free whey protein through precision fermentation. They break down the science behind inserting genetic instructions into...

Episode 73 dives into the expanding frontier of antibody-drug conjugates — or ADCs — beyond their well-known role in oncology. Lucas and Luna explore how biotech startups are now engineering ADCs to target autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, using the same warhead-delivery approach but with immune-modulating payloads instead of toxins. They break down the technical challenge:...

Episode 72 of Biotech Business with Fexingo explores spatial transcriptomics, a technology that lets researchers see which genes are active in specific locations within a tissue sample. Lucas and Luna break down how startups like 10x Genomics and Vizgen are commercializing this technique, and why it matters for drug development and diagnostics. They discuss a 2024 study using spatial transcriptomi...

In episode 71 of Biotech Business with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore how biotech startups are leveraging proteomics—the large-scale study of proteins—to discover novel drug targets. They focus on the case of Seer, a company that uses its Proteograph platform to analyze the proteome from blood samples, identifying proteins associated with disease that traditional genomics might miss. Lucas explai...

In this episode of Biotech Business with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore an emerging application of synthetic biology: using DNA molecules for long-term digital data storage. With the world generating over 2.5 quintillion bytes of data daily, traditional tape and hard drives degrade within decades. DNA, however, can last thousands of years if kept cool and dry. Lucas breaks down the process—encodi...

In this episode of Biotech Business with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore the emerging field of molecular glues — small molecules that force proteins to stick together, enabling targeted degradation of disease-causing proteins. They focus on a recent case: Arvinas's phase 2 data for its PROTAC drug targeting the androgen receptor in prostate cancer, announced in April 2026. The hosts explain how mo...

In this episode of Biotech Business with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore how biotech startups are using organ-on-a-chip technology to model human physiology for drug testing. They focus on the case of Emulate, a Boston-based startup whose 'Liver-Chip' mimics human liver function and has been used to predict drug toxicity more accurately than animal models. The hosts discuss how these microfluidic...

Episode 67 of Biotech Business with Fexingo explores how biotech startups are leveraging induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to transform drug discovery. Lucas and Luna break down the science behind reprogramming adult cells into nearly any cell type, then dive into a concrete case: a startup called Rarity Biosciences that uses iPSC-derived motor neurons to screen for ALS therapies. They discus...

Episode 66 of Biotech Business with Fexingo dives into how life sciences startups are mining electronic health records to generate real-world evidence for drug development. Lucas and Luna explore the case of Aetion, a startup that uses EHR data to help biotechs design smarter trials, support regulatory submissions, and demonstrate value to payers. They discuss the challenges of data standardizatio...

In this episode of Biotech Business, Lucas and Luna explore how biotech startups are using artificial intelligence to predict drug toxicity early in development, before expensive human trials. They focus on the specific case of Recursion Pharmaceuticals, which uses machine learning models trained on cellular imaging data to flag toxic compounds. Lucas explains how traditional toxicity testing reli...

In this episode of Biotech Business, Lucas and Luna dive into prime editing — a next-generation gene-editing technology that promises to rewrite DNA with unprecedented precision. They explore how startup Prime Medicine is leading the charge, the mechanics of prime editing versus CRISPR-Cas9, and a recent breakthrough in editing blood stem cells. The hosts discuss the hurdles of delivery and the po...

Lucas and Luna explore how biotech startups are using phage display, a Nobel Prize-winning technique, to discover antibodies faster and cheaper than traditional animal-based methods. They walk through the actual process: engineers create a library of billions of phages, each displaying a unique antibody fragment, then pan them against a target protein to find binders with the right affinity. The h...

In this episode of Biotech Business with Fexingo, we dive into base editing—a technique that rewrites single DNA letters without breaking the double helix. Lucas and Luna explore how startups like Beam Therapeutics are turning this Nobel-winning science into therapies for sickle cell disease and beyond. They break down the difference between base editors and CRISPR-Cas9, discuss the challenge of o...

Episode 61 of Biotech Business with Fexingo explores how biotech startups are using cryo-electron microscopy to determine protein structures at near-atomic resolution. Lucas and Luna break down a concrete case: a startup called StructurePro that used cryo-EM to solve a previously undruggable cancer target, the KRAS G12C mutation, in just 18 months — compared to seven years with traditional X-ray c...

Episode 60 of Biotech Business with Fexingo dives into organoids—miniature 3D organ models grown from stem cells that are reshaping drug testing. Lucas explains how a startup called Organome used colon organoids to screen a library of 50,000 compounds for inflammatory bowel disease, cutting preclinical timelines by 18 months. Luna questions whether these lab-grown tissues can truly mimic human phy...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how biotech startups are using liquid biopsies — blood tests that detect circulating tumor DNA — to catch cancer earlier than traditional imaging or tissue biopsies. They dive into the case of Guardant Health, which has processed over 700,000 liquid biopsy tests, and discuss the technical challenge of picking up a single mutated DNA fragment among 50,000 nor...

Lucas and Luna explore how biotech startups are repurposing lipid nanoparticles — the delivery technology that made mRNA vaccines possible — for gene editing, protein replacement, and cancer immunotherapy. They dive into the story of a startup called ReCode Therapeutics, which uses LNP technology to deliver mRNA to the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients, bypassing the limitations of current small-m...

In this episode of Biotech Business with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore how antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are transforming cancer treatment by delivering potent toxins directly to tumor cells while sparing healthy tissue. They break down the real-world example of Enhertu, the ADC developed by AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo, which has shown remarkable results in breast, lung, and gastric cancers...

In Episode 56 of Biotech Business, Lucas and Luna explore how biotech startups use mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) to visualize exactly where drugs go in tissues. They discuss the technology's evolution from bulky lab instruments to commercial platforms, a case study of a startup using MSI to map a cancer drug's penetration into tumors, and how this technique is changing pharmacokinetics and FDA s...

Episode 55 of Biotech Business with Fexingo dives into circular RNA, the cutting-edge molecule that biotech startups are engineering for more stable, longer-lasting therapies. Lucas explains why circular RNA resists degradation better than linear mRNA, and Luna highlights a specific startup—Orna Therapeutics—that raised $221 million to develop circular RNA-based immunotherapies. They discuss how t...