Business Of Biotech

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. Earlier this month, Surface Oncology shared that it will open a second stage of its monotherapy trial of SRF388, an antibody targeting IL-27, on the heels of a promising phase 2 data readout. Shortly before that release, the Business of Biotech caught up with Surface's CSO Vito Palombella, Ph.D. and CEO Rob Ross, M.D. in the company's Cambridge, MA HQ. We discussed the first-of-its-kind target, the company's "product versus platform" strategy and how it fits in the industry's current "platform" vibe, the finer points of building and maintaining a startup bio culture, the difference between that Bob Ross and the Rob Ross, M.D., and whole lot more. Access this and hundreds of episodes of the Business of Biotech videocast under the Business of Biotech tab at lifescienceleader.com.  Subscribe to our monthly Business of Biotech newsletter. Get in touch with guest and topic suggestions: ben.comer@lifescienceleader.comFind Ben Comer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencomer/

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. MIT-born startup Elicio Therapeutics' novel Amphiphile Technology Platform is designed to directly engage the lymphatic system in the deployment and delivery of therapeutic payloads. We caught up with Chief Scientific Officer Peter DeMuth, Ph.D.  at Elicio HQ in Boston to learn how the platform works, and how it's driving rapid clinical progress for the company's robust pipeline of therapeutic vaccines in oncology, as a cell therapy amplifier in liquid and solid tumor indications, and in prophylactic vaccines for infectious diseases like COVID-19. Dr. DeMuth also shares his journey as a young scientific founder, how he's managed the transition from academic scientist to the C-suite, and how he leans into his scientific training to make a killer home brew. Access this and hundreds of episodes of the Business of Biotech videocast under the Business of Biotech tab at lifescienceleader.com.  Subscribe to our monthly Business of Biotech newsletter. Get in touch with guest and topic suggestions: ben.comer@lifescienceleader.comFind Ben Comer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencomer/

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. Anat Binur, Ph.D. is CEO and Co-Founder at Ukko, where she's leading an effort to create new allergy therapeutics  by engineering the proteins that induce immune response in people who suffer from food allergies. The effort at Ukko is deeply rooted in computational biology. The company leverages artificial intelligence to analyze how the allergen proteins interact with patients' blood in an effort to determine the specific attributes of the proteins that trigger immune response. Then, it applies a unique combination of compute power and biology to identify and understand the changes it wants to engineer and predict the best possible designs. Learn how Ukko is fostering a culture of IT and biology collaboration and what lured this dynamic entrepreneur into biopharma on this episode of the Business of Biotech. Access this and hundreds of episodes of the Business of Biotech videocast under the Business of Biotech tab at lifescienceleader.com.  Subscribe to our monthly Business of Biotech newsletter. Get in touch with guest and topic suggestions: ben.comer@lifescienceleader.comFind Ben Comer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencomer/

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. In a particularly candid conversation, 4BIO Managing Partner Dmitry ‘Dima’ Kuzmin and Ray Therapeutics Co-Founder & CEO Paul Bresge share the recipe for a successful relationship between biotech VC firm and startup. Bresge offers insight into VC engagement strategy and pitch, Kuzmin dishes on what investors look for in terms of "fundability" and what throws red flags, such as— perhaps ironically— a CEO like Bresge who has a deep and incredibly personal  connection to the indication he's pursuing.  The pair also discuss, in real and tangible terms, what constitutes a material, cultural match. Access this and hundreds of episodes of the Business of Biotech videocast under the Business of Biotech tab at lifescienceleader.com.  Subscribe to our monthly Business of Biotech newsletter. Get in touch with guest and topic suggestions: ben.comer@lifescienceleader.comFind Ben Comer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencomer/

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. AbbVie  VP of Oncology Discovery Research Steve Davidsen, Ph.D.  is a living, breathing timeline of the company's cancer research and development efforts. He got his start with the company— Abbott at the time— way back in 1986. As such, he's charted the adoption of multiple advanced technologies that have contributed to the realization of dozens of molecular weapons in the fight against cancer.  On this episode of the Business of Biotech, Dr. Davidsen shares the latest on AbbVie's adoption of computational biology and how it's contributing to discovery and development efficiencies,  why he's an AbbVie "lifer," how he manages and motivates a large team of research scientists, and a whole lot more. Access this and hundreds of episodes of the Business of Biotech videocast under the Business of Biotech tab at lifescienceleader.com.  Subscribe to our monthly Business of Biotech newsletter. Get in touch with guest and topic suggestions: ben.comer@lifescienceleader.comFind Ben Comer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencomer/

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. On this episode of The Business of Biotech, Obsidian Therapeutics CEO Paul Wotton, Ph.D. takes us behind the scenes to reveal what precipitated the FDA's clearance of its IND application for a novel, engineered tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy called OBX-115.  Learn how the company navigated the regulatory path for a first-of-its-kind biologic therapy developed in partnership with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center that Dr. Wotton says, should it succeed, will eliminate the patient risk associated with concomitant IL2 therapy and improve clinical outcomes for certain patients with metastatic melanoma. We also get an update on outcomes from Obsidian's unique approach to solving COVID-19 challenges covered on episode 9 of the Business of Biotech.Access this and hundreds of episodes of the Business of Biotech videocast under the Business of Biotech tab at lifescienceleader.com.  Subscribe to our monthly Business of Biotech newsletter. Get in touch with guest and topic suggestions: ben.comer@lifescienceleader.comFind Ben Comer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencomer/

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. Here's the story of BioStem, it's young founders, and how they reached commercial status in short order with a portfolio of proprietary regenerative wound care products developed from perinatal tissue.  Fueled by a personal story of resilience and inspiration, Jason Matuszewski (CEO) and Andrew VanVurst (COO) built a company that's developed a local microenvironment activation platform drawing on a combination of small molecules, cytokines, and growth factors to promote tissue repair and regrowth. The company's internal development and cGMP manufacturing facilities have already  yielded three approved products poised to change the paradigm for diabetic, traumatic, and other wound care. Access this and hundreds of episodes of the Business of Biotech videocast under the Business of Biotech tab at lifescienceleader.com.  Subscribe to our monthly Business of Biotech newsletter. Get in touch with guest and topic suggestions: ben.comer@lifescienceleader.comFind Ben Comer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencomer/

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. Using computational biology to hasten the effort, Omega Therapeutics' plan  is to "coopt nature's universal biological operating system for gene control and cell differentiation."  On this episode of the Business of Biotech, we dig into exactly what that means. We also explore the company's preclinical ambitions, which are diverse, targeting regenerative, multigenic/immunologic, oncologic, and monogenic indications. Omega is leaning heavily into computational biology along the way, having mapped what CEO Mahesh Karande characterizes as 95% of the IGD landscape. Learn how Karande intends to maintain momentum on this episode of the Business of Biotech. Access this and hundreds of episodes of the Business of Biotech videocast under the Business of Biotech tab at lifescienceleader.com.  Subscribe to our monthly Business of Biotech newsletter. Get in touch with guest and topic suggestions: ben.comer@lifescienceleader.comFind Ben Comer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencomer/

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. Under the leadership of Mai-Britt Zocca, Ph.D., IO Biotech is advancing novel, immune-modulating cancer therapies targeting IDO (indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase). Though promising, the target fell out of favor after some high-profile misses – most notably Merck's Phase 3 failure with pembrolizumab in 2018. But Immunome's dual mechanism of action is renewing interest in the target, and Dr. Zocca is gaining confidence as the company's data grows. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, she shares the approach, how it differs from previous attempts, and how her company is working to advance its programs in the wake of IDO's fall from grace.Access this and hundreds of episodes of the Business of Biotech videocast under the Business of Biotech tab at lifescienceleader.com.  Subscribe to our monthly Business of Biotech newsletter. Get in touch with guest and topic suggestions: ben.comer@lifescienceleader.comFind Ben Comer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencomer/

We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message. With a unique multi-target approach, what it considers the world's best adjuvant, and a host of learnings from the successes and failures of COVID-19 vaccine efforts, Longhorn Therapeutics is gaining steam in its pursuit of a universal influenza vaccine. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, Longhorn Vaccines & Diagnostics Co-Founder and President Jeff Fischer gives us a transparent look at the science and the partnerships that are giving him cause to believe his company will succeed where so many have failed.Access this and hundreds of episodes of the Business of Biotech videocast under the Business of Biotech tab at lifescienceleader.com.  Subscribe to our monthly Business of Biotech newsletter. Get in touch with guest and topic suggestions: ben.comer@lifescienceleader.comFind Ben Comer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencomer/