The BioCentury Show – Details, episodes & analysis

This is a previously recorded episode of The BioCentury Show from February 22, 2024. Subscribe to this channel to listen to each new episode. Visit TheBioCenturyYouTube.com to access and watch all prior episodes.

In a wide-ranging conversation with BioCentury, Bob Nelsen, co-founder and managing director of Arch Venture Partners, said he is excited by the potential for AI to “create a language of biology,” is cautious about investing in China given increasing geopolitical tensions, and is convinced that the U.S. healthcare system could do a far better job of delivering on the promise of rapidly progressing science.
Nelsen, who has helped finance and create more than 150 companies, including 47 that have reached valuations exceeding $1 billion, discussed his conviction that focusing on creating transformational medicines, rather than looking for short-term gains, is a key to success in the life sciences.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/651502

#biotech #pharma #biopharma #TheBioCenturyShow 

0:00 - Introduction
01:59 - The Promise of AI
08:35 - The Inflation Reduction Act
15:38 - China
25:58 - Building Companies Around Big challenges

As Jane Grogan anticipates the unmet needs in patients five years from now, she’s harnessing a wave of interest in targeting B cells as a key driver of an immunology expansion at Biogen. In conversation with Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn on The BioCentury Show, Grogan, who became EVP and head of research of Biogen in October, discusses how she’s approaching the mission to build diversity and balance the risk in the company’s portfolio, extending further into disease areas beyond neurology.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/653208

#RandD #DrugDevelopment #neurology #immunology #nephrology #celltherapy #bcells #CD28 #CD38

00:00 - Intro
01:05 – Expanding Research
08:22 – Integrating Hi-Bio
11:30 – Targeting B Cells
16:35 – Growing the Modality Toolbox

This is a previously recorded episode of The BioCentury Show. Subscribe to this channel to listen to each new episode. Visit TheBioCenturyYouTube.com to access and watch all prior episodes.

Within the framework of target, modality and path to clinic, causal biology is the axis along which Head of Research Robert Plenge is building and prosecuting research at Bristol Myers. It maps from late-stage decisions the company has made, such as the Karuna acquisition, to strategies in early R&D, such as how to innovate in ADCs and extend the modality to new applications.
In conversation with Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn on The BioCentury Show, Plenge outlined his view of causal biology as a principal axiom for building an R&D engine to maximize probability of success. It is the foundation for step one — picking the right target — and sets the basis for the second and third tenets of his framework, finding the right therapeutic modality for a mechanism of action, and establishing a clear path to clinical proof of concept.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/652135

#biotech #biopharma #pharma #lifescience

00:00 - Intro
01:53 - BMS's Framework for Research
12:38 - First vs. Best in Class
16:09 - Modalities & Manufacturing
19:48 - CAR Ts & Autoimmunity
24:34 - ADCs

This is a previously recorded episode of The BioCentury Show. Subscribe to this channel to listen to each new episode. Visit TheBioCenturyYouTube.com to access and watch all prior episodes.

BIO CEO John Crowley believes that biotech is part of a “great global rivalry” between the U.S. and China. The role of biotech in determining the outcome of this rivalry, and a belief in the need for reducing U.S. reliance on Chinese biotech companies, led BIO to reverse its opposition to the Biosecure Act. Crowley acknowledges concerns that the enactment of the bill in its current form would create serious disruptions in drug development. By accepting its overall goals and engaging with Congress, BIO will have opportunities to persuade negotiate changes that will mitigate its negative consequences for biopharma companies and patients, Crowley told BioCentury Washington Editor Steve Usdin in this episode of #TheBioCenturyShow.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/651990

#biotech #biopharma #pharma #biosecureact #lifescience

00:00 - Intro
03:57 - Decoupling from China
11:33 - Biosecure Act
15:48 - Rare Diseases at FDA
25:02 - Fly-outs and Big Ideas
28:05 - Changing the Narrative

This is a previously recorded episode of The BioCentury Show. Subscribe to this channel to listen to each new episode. Visit TheBioCenturyYouTube.com to access and watch all prior episodes.

Atlas Venture’s Bruce Booth believes the belt-tightening by biotechs in the past few years will presage a better financing outlook for companies, but the ripple effects will be felt for some time to come. In conversation with Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn on The BioCentury Show, the longtime biotech VC said that there are clear positive signs for biotech, with the XBI ETF bouncing back from its lows in the 60s, February’s robust follow-on financing market and a stream of M&A deals. “Everybody did belt-tightening the last few years,” said Booth. “So, you’re coming from a good place in terms of overall burn rates, and companies, I think, are in a good place to be financed by the next wave of investors.”

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/651821

#biotech #pharma #biopharma #lifescience #TheBioCenturyShow 

00:00 - Intro
01:54 - Capital Markets
07:19 - How to Pitch a VC
12:12 - Obesity 
16:30 - New Modalities
22:28 - Industry Efficiency, AI

This is a previously recorded episode of The BioCentury Show. Subscribe to this channel to listen to each new episode. Visit TheBioCenturyYouTube.com to access and watch all prior episodes.

On the tenth anniversary of a viral media campaign for access to an unapproved drug that extended a boy’s life, bioethicist Arthur Caplan reflected in an interview with The BioCentury Show on how the experience reshaped public views, corporate policies and legal requirements associated with providing access to unapproved therapies.
The wide-ranging conversation also touched on the need for scientists to receive communications training that could help reduce the impacts of medical disinformation, Caplan’s concerns about the lack of transparency about Neuralink Corp.’s experimental implantable brain chip, and the benefits of teaching biopharma CEOs about ethics.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/651502

#biotech #pharma #biopharma #TheBioCenturyShow 

00:00 - Intro
01:12 - Josh Hardy & Compassionate Use
13:27 - Ethics Training for the C-suite
16:16 - FDA
23:44 - Neuralink & Transparency

This is a previously recorded episode of The BioCentury Show. Subscribe to this channel to listen to each new episode. Visit TheBioCenturyYouTube.com to access and watch all prior episodes.

In a wide-ranging conversation with BioCentury, Bob Nelsen, co-founder and managing director of Arch Venture Partners, said he is excited by the potential for AI to “create a language of biology,” is cautious about investing in China given increasing geopolitical tensions, and is convinced that the U.S. healthcare system could do a far better job of delivering on the promise of rapidly progressing science.
Nelsen, who has helped finance and create more than 150 companies, including 47 that have reached valuations exceeding $1 billion, discussed his conviction that focusing on creating transformational medicines, rather than looking for short-term gains, is a key to success in the life sciences.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/651502

#biotech #pharma #biopharma #TheBioCenturyShow 

00:00 - Intro
02:00 - The Promise of AI 
08:37 - The Inflation Reduction Act
15:50 - China
26:04 - Building Companies Around Big challenges

This is a previously recorded episode of The BioCentury Show. Subscribe to this channel to listen to each new episode. Visit TheBioCenturyYouTube.com to access and watch all prior episodes.

Success for the Singapore biotech project will take a global network, one which Khoo Shih and other prominent drivers of the local ecosystem are keen to leverage to bring the right combination of talent, experience and capital to the growing hub. Speaking on The BioCentury Show, Khoo Shih, CEO of investment firm ClavystBio, laid out the strategy for capitalizing on the ascendant energy and attention being devoted to Singapore biotech. While the goal continues to be to create companies that solve global problems and have a global outreach, she said the path involves bringing in international life science investors from day one.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/651376

#biotech #biopharma #pharma #TheBioCenturyShow

00:00 – Intro
04:48 – ClavystBio
08:18 – Why Singapore
19:07 – 65Labs Incubator
23:20 – Growing the Ecosystem

As Astellas prepares to launch four products in parallel, Chief Commercial Officer Claus Zieler is balancing the complexity of this multi-faceted enterprise with a simple guiding principle: it has to work at a local level, and that will change with geography, circumstance and time. In conversation with Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn on The BioCentury Show, Zieler discusses how to factor local differences in patient behavior, payer systems and regulatory environments into a global launch strategy. He also advocates for a seamless integration of R&D and commercial efforts throughout the lifecycle of each product, from early development to loss of exclusivity, and he discusses what small companies need to know when deciding whether to commercialize a therapy on their own.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/653047

#biotech #biopharma #pharma #lifescience #RandD #deals #licensing #partnerships

00:00 - Intro
01:26 - Focus Area Approach
04:55 - Continuous Teams
09:00 - Building Partnerships
15:24 - Omni Channel Launches
28:40 - Future Pipeline

Ignorance about the path from scientific discovery to approved drugs, high out-of-pocket costs, and a byzantine healthcare system that obscures net prices while inflating list prices have fueled policies that threaten biomedical progress, John O’Brien, CEO of think tank National Pharmaceutical Council, told BioCentury.
In an interview with The BioCentury Show's Steve Usdin, O’Brien, who led efforts to reduce drug prices as an HHS official during the Trump administration, said that whoever wins the White House in November will step into a political atmosphere that is hostile to biopharma companies. While it is difficult to predict what drug pricing policies Trump would pursue if he is re-elected, “Beltway chatter” suggests he would undercut the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare drug price negotiation program and attempt to revive international reference pricing proposals, O’Brien said.

View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/652931

#biotech #biopharma #pharma #lifescience #politics #policy #law #IRA #healthcare

00:00 - Intro
01:15 - Drug Pricing Policy Overview
09:30 - Inflation Reduction Act
16:20 - A Byzantine Healthcare System