Explore every episode of the podcast The BioCentury Show
Dive into the complete episode list for The BioCentury Show. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.
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Ep. 122 - Tigermed's Britney Winterberger's take on running trials in the U.S. and China
21 oct. 2026
00:29:38
Tigermed, the largest clinical CRO in China, has expanded into more than 50 countries and is growing its North American operations, offering full-service support from preclinical through Phase IV. On this sponsored edition of The BioCentury Show, Britney Winterberger, Tigermed’s VP and head of North America clinical operations, tells BioCentury Executive Editor Jeff Cranmer how the CRO helps U.S. sponsors run trials in China and Chinese sponsors run trials in the U.S. — and why combining both in a single protocol can de-risk FDA acceptance while capturing China’s enrollment speed. Winterberger also discusses investigator-initiated trials in China, China’s new IIT regulations, and trial trends spanning bispecifics, ADCs, cell and gene therapies, and radiopharmaceuticals. This episode of The BioCentury Show is brought to you by Tigermed.
0:00 Introduction 1:17 Tigermed's Global Capabilities 2:59 Running Trials in China 7:05 Chinese Sponsors in the U.S. 16:42 IITs 22:28 Trends in Trial Design
Ep. 121 - Arrowhead’s Chris Anzalone on the future of RNAi
17 oct. 2026
00:37:12
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals can now deliver siRNA to seven cell types, and new data showing subcutaneous delivery to the brain could push RNAi therapies well beyond the liver. On this edition of The BioCentury Show, Arrowhead Chairman, President, and CEO Chris Anzalone joins BioCentury’s Stephen Hansen to discuss where siRNA has the edge over ASOs, what the Phase III miss for Novartis’ pelacarsen means for olpasiran, the Lp(a) therapy Arrowhead partnered with Amgen, and the growth outlook for plozasiran in severe hypertriglyceridemia. Anzalone also describes Arrowhead’s obesity programs targeting INHBE and ALK7, and a dimer molecule that silences two genes at once.
0:00 Introduction 1:09 Arrowhead's siRNA Platform 9:05 Solving for Extra-Hepatic Delivery 23:43 Redemplo's Future Growth 27:00 Obesity and Bispecific siRNA
Ep. 120 - Canaan’s Julie Grant on building biotechs in white spaces
02 oct. 2026
00:38:58
Untapped multibillion-dollar markets are hiding in plain sight where patients endure mediocre generic standards of care, according to Canaan General Partner Julie Grant, co-founder and first CEO of Day One, which Servier acquired for $2.5 billion this year. In an interview with BioCentury's Lindsay Martin, Grant discussed white spaces in women's health such as migraine and anemia, and why mid-tier acquirers like Jazz, Ipsen and Servier make smaller markets viable. She also explained why the last private round can understate value by 10-20X, how Canaan builds management teams around a key individual who sets the tone and why biotech needs scientific heroes as AI captures most venture dollars.
0:00 Introduction 1:19 Canaan's Strategy 11:34 Team Building 21:57 White Space 28:00 New Biotech Buyers 34:15 Biotech Founders
Ep. 119 - Blackstone's Galakatos on funding biotech's hardest mile
18 sept. 2026
00:34:32
On this edition of The BioCentury Show, Nick Galakatos, Global Head of Life Sciences at Blackstone, joins Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn to discuss the path from Clarus to Blackstone's new $6.3 billion fund, and the goal of game-changing bets. Galakatos discusses Blackstone's thesis for addressing the late-stage financing gap, as Phase III programs costing more than $1 billion drive demand for large, product-based capital. He also addresses structured capital as an alternative to acquisition, noting deals such as Blackstone's with Alnylam and Apogee can reduce dilution and extend runway.
0:00 Introduction 1:22 New Fund & Founding 10:30 Alnylam Deal 17:14 Working with Big Caps 25:54 Biotech Risk 29:13 China
Ep. 118 - Regeneron's Gonçalo Abecasis on turning genetic data into drug targets
04 sept. 2026
00:31:44
On This Edition of The BioCentury Show, Gonçalo Abecasis, SVP and Chief Genomics and Data Sciences Officer at the Regeneron Genetics Center, joins BioCentury’s Tierney Baum to discuss genetics as a scalable drug discovery platform and the practical use of AI in genomics.
0:00 - Introduction 1:14 - Regeneron Genetics Center 10:29 - Acting on Genetic Signals 16:57 - Getting to Drug Development 21:51 - Best AI Use Cases
Ep. 117 - C-Path's Klaus Romero on moving genetic medicines beyond one patient
21 août 2026
00:29:57
The Critical Path Institute’s One to Millions Initiative is using individualized rare disease therapies as the starting point for a development framework that could eventually extend across all genetically defined diseases. The initiative seeks to bring form to FDA’s Plausible Mechanism Framework by standardizing how evidence and methods can be reused across therapies and patients. In conversation with Biopharma Analyst Dr. Tierney Baum on The BioCentury Show, C-Path CEO and CSO Klaus Romero discusses how the principal bottleneck is no longer the ability to design therapies for individual patients but rather the absence of a standardized regulatory and development system that can translate one success into many. C-Path plans to bring companies, academics, patient groups, and regulators together to share data and address recurring development bottlenecks.
00:00 - Introduction 01:44 - Current Framework 07:01 - Process-based Regulation 13:57 - Overcoming Bottlenecks 20:28 - Use of AI 25:25 - Beyond Rare Diseases
Ep. 116 - Ovid's Jeremy Levin on biotech in the balance
07 août 2026
00:32:38
Throughout his career, which has included serving as president and CEO of Teva, chair of BIO, and a leader or senior executive of large and small biopharma companies, Jeremy Levin has challenged the industry to live up to its ideals. In an interview with BioCentury Washington Editor Steve Usdin, Levin discussed why he believes industry leaders should speak out, and why many remain silent, about critical issues. He described concerns about the strength of the pillars that support the U.S. biotech industry, and why he is optimistic about the future of biotech.
00:00 - Introduction 03:24 - Biotech Under Threat 10:38 - CEO Compensation 15:39 - Competing with China 22:08 - U.S. Policy Prescriptions 30:00 - Looking Ahead
Ep. 115 - Initiate's Owens on what it takes to be AI-native
23 juil. 2026
00:40:29
As AI becomes increasingly commoditized, Initiate Ventures' Jessica Owens argues healthcare and life sciences companies need to use it to solve historically intractable problems, not just streamline workflows. On The BioCentury Show, Owens breaks down how she evaluates founders, when Initiate chooses to fund versus co-found a company, and why she believes proprietary data now matters more than any proprietary model. Owens also discusses gaps in evidence generation for diagnostics, and closes with a look at MASH, arguing that better non-invasive fibrosis staging will become increasingly critical as more GLP-1 combination therapies reach patients.
Ep. 114 - Roivant’s Matt Gline on commercial launches and the future of the vant model
10 juil. 2026
00:41:59
Roivant CEO Matt Gline calls the company’s move beyond spinning out subsidiary “vants” to concentrating on late-stage programs and commercial launches less a pivot than an evolution toward an original goal, which could soon be realized with the approval and launch of brepocitinib this year. In conversation with Lindsay Martin on The BioCentury Show, Gline discussed how Roivant’s initial hub-and-spoke approach has provided the foundation needed for the company to develop and commercialize its portfolio now, including lead program JAK-1/TYK2 inhibitor brepocitinib. Gline also discussed how he views AI at Roivant and more broadly in biopharma R&D, the science behind Roivant’s next most advanced program, Phase III anti-FcRN mAb imeroprubart and the lessons he’s taking from a “graduating class” of biotechs that have launched programs, like Alnylam and Argenx S.E.
00:00 - Introduction 00:42 - Roivant’s Evolution 09:19 - AI in R&D 17:48 - Lead Asset Brepocitinib 28:23 - Anti-FcRN mAb Imeroprubart 32:23 - China 37:55 - What’s Next for Roivant
Ep. 113 - Frank Jiang on Hengrui’s rise and China’s new era of biopharma dealmaking
25 juin 2026
00:35:06
Launched in the 1970s as a generics company, Hengrui has become China’s leading innovator in R&D and dealmaking, with more than 100 NMEs in the pipeline and broad alliances with GSK and BMS. Under the leadership of Frank Jiang, EVP and chief strategy officer, Hengrui is engaging in a range of dealmaking and using its partnerships as stepping stones toward its goal of becoming one of the top biopharma companies in the world. In conversation with Executive Editor Jeff Cranmer on The BioCentury Show, Jiang describes the evolution of China’s biotech ecosystem — and Hengrui's — toward first-order innovation and the changing nature of deals in China, from straightforward licensing deals with “safe money” to NewCo deals and “co-co” partnerships.
00:00 - Introduction 01:32 - Evolution of China Biotech 08:43 - China Deals 17:23 - Hengrui’s Evolution 24:43 - Shareholder Base 26:42 - Deals
Ep. 112 - Chris Arendt on rebuilding Takeda for AI
18 juin 2026
00:40:29
Chris Arendt, CSO of Takeda, likens the AI overhaul at the pharma to gutting and rebuilding an old house, from the plumbing and electrical up, while you’re still living there. In a Fireside Chat at Grand Rounds U.S. in Seattle, Arendt sat down with Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn to discuss how Takeda is integrating AI across R&D, in and beyond the science, while still executing on the active programs in drug development.
00:00 - Introduction 02:07 - Revamping Takeda for AI 19:03 - Teams & Talent 26:43 - Alliances 32:50 - Q&A
Ep. 111 - McGill's Angela Genge on why ALS drug development is turning a corner
12 juin 2026
00:36:55
ALS drug development has long been hampered by heterogeneity, but Angela Genge — neurologist at McGill University and CMO of AL-S Pharma — argues the field is getting closer to making that heterogeneity tractable. On The BioCentury Show, Genge discusses progress in pathway prioritization, progression-rate prediction, and endpoint standardization with BioCentury's Selina Koch. On the biology side, Genge expects the field to converge on a small number of high-priority pathways. SOD1 is the first validated example, and AL-S Pharma is now testing whether misfolded SOD1 marks a treatable subset of sporadic ALS. On biomarkers, she's optimistic a TDP-43 marker could arrive within two years.
Ep. 110 - Richard Pops on Three Decades in Biotech: Drug pricing, FDA and China
28 mai 2026
00:37:37
Richard Pops has lived the biotech roller coaster over three decades as CEO of Alkermes: an IPO, M&A, near-death events for his company, FDA setbacks, battles with an activist investor, and the satisfaction of knowing that millions of patients have benefited from the company’s medicines. He has led PDUFA reauthorization negotiations for industry, chaired BIO, and advocated for the interests of mid-sized biotechs. As Pops prepares to retire as CEO (he will remain chairman), he spoke with BioCentury Washington Editor Steve Usdin about the ways policy and economics shape the development of medicines. Pops discussed the impact of the Trump administration’s most favored nation (MFN) drug pricing policy and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), concerns about FDA’s loss of talent, and competition and collaboration with China’s life sciences sector.
00:00 - Introduction 01:40 - Alkermes’ Evolution 05:12 - PBMs, Pricing & Access 10:54 - IRA 18:14 - MFN 24:36 - PDUFA Negotiations 28:05 - FDA Staffing 31:40 - China & U.S. Policy
Ep. 109 - Mind the Gap: Karen Knudsen on Fixing Cancer Drug Development
15 mai 2026
00:36:08
Karen Knudsen, CEO of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, believes the central problem in cancer drug development is not discovery, but a broken “translational middle.” In a wide-ranging interview on The BioCentury Show with BioCentury Washington Editor Steve Usdin, Knudsen discussed the Parker Institute’s focus on accelerating the path from scientific breakthrough to medical impact. As it approaches its tenth anniversary, the institute has deployed about $400 million, catalyzing roughly $4 billion in follow-on investment across 17 companies.
00:00 - Introduction 01:34 - Optimizing Translation 07:42 - Training the Immune System 16:33 - China’s Opportunity 20:50 - Need for a Cancer Strategy 24:40 - Enhancing Cancer Survivorship 27:55 - Scientific Foundation Under Threat
Ep. 108 - Rethinking Discovery: Chris Hollowood on Causal Biology and Syncona’s Strategy
01 mai 2026
00:33:21
A paradigm shift in research tools, combined with large-scale unbiased screening, has positioned the biopharma industry not only to rethink target discovery, but also to execute more faithfully on causal biology, according to Syncona CEO Chris Hollowood. Hollowood spoke on The BioCentury Show with Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn about how discovery is evolving, why causal biology has been stuck in a loop of circularity, and where the U.K. investor is headed. He also discussed the firm’s approach to gene therapy investments, how it is surmounting the field’s challenges and Syncona’s pivot last year, with a portfolio shift from 25% to over 85% clinical-stage companies.
Ep. 107 - Forbion’s Slootweg on Europe Biotech, NewCos From Asia and Green Investing
17 avr. 2026
00:37:40
The European biotech ecosystem has gone through a substantial maturation process over the past 20 years, as VC funds such as Forbion have experienced exponential growth to fund the region’s innovation. But Forbion co-founder and managing director Sander Slootweg says there’s still more that can be done to fund future European innovations and improve Europe’s competitiveness globally. “We’ve observed in Europe that although we see great science, and we’ve been able to build great companies, in terms of the absolute magnitude of the ecosystem, we’re still lagging behind the U.S., and also China is coming up quickly,” Slootweg said in conversation with BioCentury's Stephen Hansen.
00:00 - Introduction 01:34 - Forbion’s growth 05:35 - Deal flow in Europe 10:20 - Green Investing 14:24 - Sourcing Asia Deals 22:20 - Unlocking the EU’s Capital 27:54 - Speeding Up Trials 30:13 - Building a Thriving EU Market 34:38 - Central & Eastern Europe
Ep. 106 - Can the U.K. Capture Biotech Value? Daniel Mahony on Growth, Pricing and Reform
03 avr. 2026
00:33:50
The U.K. is excellent at invention and science, and creating institutions to further innovation, but poor at capturing their economic value, says Daniel Mahony, a problem that various forces in the U.K. are now putting serious efforts into solving. Mahony, one of the major influential figures in U.K. biotech, is a senior partner in growth investments at Novo Holdings, and was until December chair of the U.K.’s BioIndustry Association (BIA). In conversation with BioCentury Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn on The BioCentury Show, Mahony discussed the future of U.K. and European biotech, and the intersection of reforms related to financing and clinical trials, as well as the need for a rethink on drug pricing.
Ep. 105 - Recursion’s Najat Khan: AI Will Be Judged by the Medicines It Delivers
20 mars 2026
00:39:32
As AI spreads across biopharma, what will matter most is not who has the flashiest tools, but who can use them to make better medicines. In this episode of The BioCentury Show, Recursion CEO Najat Khan discusses where AI is showing measurable value now, how public techbio companies are being pushed toward proof points, and what comes next — from out-of-domain prediction to stronger data foundations and precompetitive collaboration.
00:00 - Introduction 01:41 - AI Hype to Proof 04:52 - Where AI Adds Value 13:30 - AI for Clinical Trials 17:01 - Agentic AI in R&D 25:34 - Out-of-Domain Prediction 28:24 - Future of Techbio 31:13 - Precompetitive Consortia 35:24 - CEO Leadership and Catalysts
Ep. 104 - SoftBank’s Jacqueline Fok on AI Drug Development, Metsera and the U.K. Biotech Opportunity
06 mars 2026
00:35:14
There is a real opportunity for artificial intelligence to dramatically transform the speed, cost and efficiency of drug development over the long term, but the uptake of AI tools across biopharma has been much slower relative to the broader healthcare environment, SoftBank’s Jacqueline Fok said on The BioCentury Show. In conversation with BioCentury's Stephen Hansen, Fok, who is investment director, Life Sciences & Health Tech at SoftBank Investment Advisers, also detailed SoftBank’s investment strategy in life sciences and the opportunity the U.K. has to stand out as a globally competitive player, with SoftBank’s obesity portfolio company Metsera as a recent example of success.
00:00 - Introduction 01:30 - SoftBank Strategy 08:40 - Metsera 14:48 - U.K. Biotech 21:38 - AI 28:20 - Women in Leadership 32:03 - Fok’s Catalysts
Ep. 103 - Kolchinsky: FDA Conservatism, MFN and IRA Are Slowing Drug Development
18 févr. 2026
00:40:58
Caution: This episode of The BioCentury Show contains strong language.
In a candid interview with BioCentury, RA Capital Managing Partner Peter Kolchinsky warns that staffing losses and growing conservatism at FDA are slowing drug development and pushing companies to launch early-stage trials outside the U.S. In conversation with BioCentury Washington Editor Steve Usdin, Kolchinsky also discusses U.S. policy headwinds, including most-favored-nation (MFN) pricing proposals and the Inflation Reduction Act’s “pill penalty,” and why he’s concerned that the biopharma sector is too “genteel” in its advocacy. Kolchinsky explains his decision to speak publicly about regulatory and political issues, including immigration, and reflected on China’s expanding role in the global life sciences innovation ecosystem.
00:00 - Introduction 00:37 - Impact of FDA Policy Changes 06:17 - MFN & Drug Pricing in Europe 20:16 - The Importance of Speaking Up 34:26 - China & Innovation
Ep. 102 - Psychiatry R&D: Steve Paul on Serendipity, Engineering and What Drives Real Breakthroughs
06 févr. 2026
00:40:43
With disease biology still murky and trials notoriously noisy, psychiatry R&D is advancing fastest where teams can solve engineering problems. Delivery, selectivity and tolerability fixes are turning long-standing hypotheses into usable medicines, says veteran CNS drug developer Steven Paul. Few drug developers have had a closer view of the field’s false starts — and occasional breakthroughs — than Paul, who has moved from NIH to pharma R&D leadership and now to company building at Karuna, acquired by BMS for $14 billion, and Seaport. In conversation with The BioCentury Show's Selina Koch, Paul explains why serendipity still plays a disproportionate role in psychiatric drug development and how critical it is for teams to engineer and execute their way from an unexpected signal to a usable medicine. He also discusses psychedelics, brain shuttles, Karuna’s muscarinic approach in schizophrenia, and the delivery and trial-design choices Seaport is using to revisit neuroactive steroid biology in depression.
00:00 - Introduction 01:32 - Psychiatric Drug Discovery 06:56 - The Karuna Story 22:09 - What’s New in Depression 32:06 - Gene Therapies, Brain Shuttles 33:53 - Psychedelics
Ep. 101 - Why Science Stalls: Astellas CEO Naoki Okamura on Translation, Talent and Platforms
23 janv. 2026
00:29:23
Why does great science so often stall before it becomes a medicine? Astellas Pharma CEO Naoki Okamura argues the bottleneck isn’t capital — it’s translation: a shortage of people, processes and platforms that can move ideas across the boundaries of biology, manufacturing, regulation and commercialization. That theme threaded through his conversation on The BioCentury Show with Executive Editor Selina Koch, surfacing most clearly in his diagnosis of what Japan’s biotech ecosystem lacks — and in his rationale for why Astellas is doubling down on cell and gene therapy as other multinational pharmas pull back. The discussion also touches on Astellas’ journey in commercializing a women’s health product, the company’s China strategy, and its plans for life after Xtandi’s patent cliff.
Ep. 100 - Adam Koppel on Why Private Equity Is Moving Deeper Into Biotech and What Comes Next
09 janv. 2026
00:36:45
Private equity’s expanding role in biopharma as a growth equity investor reflects both the maturation of the life sciences sector and the rising need for large-scale capital, alongside PE firms’ increasing ability to conduct the technical diligence required for investments once considered too risky for their models. In conversation with The BioCentury Show's Stephen Hansen, Bain Capital’s Adam Koppel discussed the evolution of private equity's interest in biotech, Bain’s prioritization scheme for scaled investments and his outlook for the capital markets in the year ahead.
00:00 - Introduction 01:57 - PE's Evolution in Biotech 06:58 - Bain's Priorities 11:24 - Structuring Deals 18:23 - Capital Market Conditions 24:03 - Environment for Private Companies 27:08 - IPO Outlook
Ep. 99 – Stelios Papadopoulos on Biotech’s Long View: Pricing Pressure, China & Big Pharma
19 déc. 2025
00:37:59
In historical terms, this is not a bear market, says Stelios Papadopoulos. There’s volatility, which is unnerving, and major issues to reckon with, but the level of anxiety in biotech doesn’t reflect the “extraordinary science, the likes of which we’ve never seen — and it’s getting better,” said Papadopoulos on The BioCentury Show. Papadopoulos is one of the long-term leading voices of biopharma, recognized for his influence in shaping the industry. Former chair of Biogen and current chair of Exelixis, with roles on several boards, and a background of nearly two decades as an investment banker, he brings a long view to how the industry has grown and the forces driving where it is headed. Tune in to hear his take on the financing environment for biotechs, company building, pricing pressure, innovation from China, and the future of big pharmas, in conversation with Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn.
View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/657910
00:00 - Introduction 02:00 - Financing Environment 10:18 - Company Building 20:47 - Women in Biotech 25:38 - China, Korea & Europe 30:00 - Is Biotech Too Insular?
Ep. 98 - Inside Precision Oncology’s Next Chapter with Fore’s Bill Hinshaw
05 déc. 2025
00:37:38
When Bill Hinshaw looks back across the arc of his career — from his early days helping to commercialize Gleevec to his present role leading Fore Biotherapeutics — he sees a precision oncology field transformed by technological ambition, yet still grappling with many of the structural challenges that defined its beginnings, now compounded by the difficulty of positioning therapies within an ever more complex treatment landscape. Gleevec proved the power of targeting a genomic driver, but the healthcare system around it was far from ready. “We weren’t able to fulfill the promise as fast as we wanted to until that scaling happened,” Hinshaw told The BioCentury Show — a reminder that even today, precision medicines succeed or fail based not only on their biology but on the infrastructure that enables patients to access them. Hinshaw sat down with Executive Editor Selina Koch on The BioCentury Show to discuss what’s changed in precision oncology, what’s stayed the same, and how he’s applying those lessons to steer Fore’s BRAF-focused program.
00:00 – Introduction 00:47 – Precision Medicine’s Evolution 09:22 – Zeroing in on Subtypes 17:59 – Fore’s BRAF Inhibitor 26:38 – Fore’s Development Approach 32:01 – Moving from Pharma to Biotech
Popular Episode - Reimagining FDA: Steve Usdin on Designing the Drug Regulator of the Future
27 nov. 2025
00:38:39
This is a previously recorded episode of The BioCentury Show from September 5, 2025. Subscribe to this channel to listen to each new episode. Visit TheBioCenturyYouTube.com to access and watch all prior episodes.
If you could redesign FDA from the ground up, what would it look like? That’s the fundamental question underlying the 2025 BioCentury Back to School essay, authored by BioCentury Washington Editor Steve Usdin, who has been a leading voice on regulation and policy for over two decades. The topic is especially meaningful in this era of FDA turmoil, when regulatory risk has piled on top of the market pullback, making biotech appear an unusually hazardous domain for investors. But while the current landscape has underscored the need, FDA reform has been on the table long before this administration came into power. On this edition of The BioCentury Show, Usdin and Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn discuss the key arguments, and some specific concepts, within Back To School, which reimagines the U.S. drugs regulator.
00:00 - Introduction 02:39 - Restructuring FDA 18:08 - A Learning Regulatory Agency 27:54 - Global View 31:09 - Talent 32:59 - User Fees
Ep. 97 – From NIH to Industry: Zerhouni Warns Policy & Rhetoric Threaten U.S. Science
14 nov. 2025
00:34:11
Elias Zerhouni personifies the American dream. He arrived in the U.S. from Algeria as a young man with a couple of hundred dollars in his pocket. Talent, ambition and hard work propelled him into a successful academic career. In 2002, he was nominated and confirmed as NIH director, and later he served in senior positions in the biopharma industry. That trajectory “would be almost impossible” today, he told BioCentury Washington Editor Steve Usdin on The BioCentury Show. Anti-immigration policies, underfunding of basic research, and attacks on philanthropy have made the U.S. an unattractive destination for anyone hoping to follow his path, Zerhouni said. Zerhouni also discussed reasons for optimism about life sciences in the U.S., the difficulty of fixing drug pricing, and his time at Sanofi.
01:09 - The American Dream & Science 05:51 - Zerhouni at NIH 09:40 - Loss of Trust 16:53 - Vaccine Policy 20:12 - Zerhouni in Industry 23:20 - Drug Pricing
Ep. 96 – From Pharma Partnering to Biotech CEO: Sophie Kornowski on Boston Pharma’s Playbook
31 oct. 2025
00:32:17
It took Sophie Kornowski under four years as CEO of Boston Pharma to bring it from a pipeline full of in-licensed assets to an acquisition by GSK for about $2 billion in total deal value for a single MASH program. Though her first gig as a biotech CEO, Kornowski’s success was built on her years of experience as head of partnering at Roche. She discussed that pivot and the value of rolling your sleeves up on the latest episode of The BioCentury Show.
00:00 - Introduction 01:15 - Becoming a Biotech CEO 11:40 - MASH 18:15 - First v. Best in Class 24:10 - GSK Deal
Ep. 95 - Kymera CEO Nello Mainolfi: Matching Degrader Chemistry to the Problem
16 oct. 2025
00:31:33
Kymera Therapeutics has a clear mission: to transform immunology with targeted protein degraders that enable “oral drugs with biologics-like activity,” CEO Nello Mainolfi told The BioCentury Show. A pioneer in one of biopharma’s most closely watched new therapeutic modalities, Kymera is now over nine years into its story, with multiple pharma partnerships and a wholly owned pipeline, including a STAT6 degrader that produced promising data in June. In conversation with BioCentury’s Selina Koch, Mainolfi discusses the appeal of degraders, the rationale for choosing glues or heterobifunctional degraders and how to prove a new modality on a new target without incurring biology risk.
00:00 - Introduction 01:07 - Degraders' Appeal 07:22 - Glue vs. Heterobifunctional 16:12 - Translating a New Modality 24:14 - Partnerships
Ep. 94 - Frazier's James Li on China’s Rapidly Evolving Biotech Deal Landscape
03 oct. 2025
00:29:45
The frenzy among Western companies to access China’s biotechnology innovation is remaking the landscape for cross-border dealmaking, with assets becoming more expensive and partnerships earlier and broader than ever before. That’s being driven by exceptional capital efficiency, access to patients and speed of development, said Frazier Life Sciences’ James Li on The BioCentury Show podcast. Among multinational companies, “every company has an army on the ground hunting for assets,” said Li, who has more than 30 years of biotech experience, as an investor, company builder and executive at an MNC and a biotech.
00:00 - Introduction 02:18 - Evolution of an Ecosystem 04:31 - NewCo Deals 10:30 - Japan, Korea 15:30 - Dealmaking
Ep. 93 – BIO’s Fritz Bittenbender on Trump 2.0, MFN Threats & Pharma’s Concessions
18 sept. 2025
00:34:03
President Donald Trump’s demands for “most favored nation” drug pricing presents the biopharma industry with an immense public policy challenge. Drug companies are convinced that meeting the president’s demand to reduce U.S. prices to levels below those of other industrialized countries would decimate the industry. On this episode of The BioCentury Show, Fritz Bittenbender, SVP of Roche's Genentech unit and chairman of BIO, discusses the industry’s responses to the MFN challenge, and some of the under-appreciated nuances of policy options. He notes that reducing or eliminating payments to PBMs would lead to higher insurance premiums. While drug companies are scrambling to meet Trump’s Sept. 29 deadline to make voluntary pricing concessions, Bittenbender says a more comprehensive deal should be made that reduces out-of-pocket costs, preserves patient access and supports biomedical innovation. The interview touches on other hot button public policy issues, presenting the biotech industry’s views on reforming the Medicare drug pricing negotiation program, tariffs, and prospects for reviving the Biosecure Act.
00:00 - Introduction 00:48 - MFN Drug Pricing 11:06 - Tariffs 18:27 - China Policy 23:58 - Vaccines 27:03 - IRA
Ep. 92 - Reimagining FDA: Steve Usdin on Designing the Drug Regulator of the Future
06 sept. 2025
00:38:43
If you could redesign FDA from the ground up, what would it look like? That’s the fundamental question underlying the 2025 BioCentury Back to School essay, authored by BioCentury Washington Editor Steve Usdin, who has been a leading voice on regulation and policy for over two decades. The topic is especially meaningful in this era of FDA turmoil, when regulatory risk has piled on top of the market pullback, making biotech appear an unusually hazardous domain for investors. But while the current landscape has underscored the need, FDA reform has been on the table long before this administration came into power. On this edition of The BioCentury Show, Usdin and Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn discuss the key arguments, and some specific concepts, within Back To School, which reimagines the U.S. drugs regulator.
00:00 - Introduction 02:38 - Restructuring FDA 18:04 - A Learning Regulatory Agency 27:48 - Global View 31:04 - Talent 32:54 - User Fees
Ep. 91 – Annalisa Jenkins: How MHRA’s Reset Could Revive U.K. Biotech
22 août 2025
00:36:07
A new head at MHRA, a streamlined government life sciences strategy, and a more sophisticated innovation ecosystem have Annalisa Jenkins optimistic about the future of U.K. biotech — and its potential to carve out a stronger global role. On The BioCentury Show, Annalisa Jenkins, chair of Gemma Biotherapeutics, discussed the evolving landscape of biotech in the U.K. and the critical hurdles it faces as it implements the latest strategy. Jenkins, who was president and CEO of Dimension Therapeutics, is a committee member on the Science Board to FDA, a board member of Genomics England and Faster Cures, and chair of the court at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
00:00 - Introduction 02:52 - State of U.K. Biotech 13:15 - Improving U.K.’s Path to Clinic 18:50 - What’s Next for MHRA 24:53 - Changes at FDA 29:58 - Working with China
Popular Episode - Vertex’s Winning Formula: Altshuler on Choosing the Next Breakthroughs
13 août 2025
00:32:44
This is a previously recorded episode of The BioCentury Show from March 19, 2025. Subscribe to this channel to listen to each new episode. Visit TheBioCenturyYouTube.com to access and watch all prior episodes.
Vertex’s approach to research, defined over a decade ago to beat the dismal odds of success in biotech, remains core to its strategy, even as the industry evolves and technologies expand. While that strategy, which EVP and CSO David Altshuler calls “serial innovation,” has seen the company launch eight drugs since 2011 and jump market cap tiers on the success of its cystic fibrosis portfolio, it’s now being tested in other areas as Vertex expands to pain, renal disease, Type I diabetes, and more. In conversation with Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn on The BioCentury Show, Altshuler discussed the rising interest in causal biology and the role of AI, noting that the fundamentals of picking targets and programs have not changed.
00:00 - Introduction 02:17 - Causal Biology 08:54 - AI in R&D, at Vertex 16:42 - Academia-Industry Interface 22:08 - Cell Therapy for Diabetes 25:44 - Gene Therapy for DMD
Ep. 90 – Inside Biopharma Dealmaking: ProFound CEO John Lepore on Knowing What Partners Want
24 juil. 2025
00:33:05
In an environment where everybody hurts, it helps for biotech CEOs to understand the pressures driving pharmas, investors and other key players if they want to secure deals and financings that will help them succeed. That’s how John Lepore, CEO of Profound Therapeutics and former head of research at GSK, is navigating his early stage company through this capital-constrained era as he builds it from the ground up. Speaking on The BioCentury Show in conversation with Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn, Lepore discussed how he approaches partnering, how he manages the need to both build a platform and generate products, and the science driving the company’s technology.
00:00 - Introduction 01:17 - From GSK to Biotech CEO 04:50 - Dealmaking 15:26 - ProFound’s Platform 24:13 - Building a Biotech: Team, AI
Ep. 89 - Delivering on the biosimilars promise, a conversation with Gillian Woollett
10 juil. 2025
00:31:47
Gillian Woollett, head of regulatory strategy and policy at Samsung Bioepis, discusses how FDA can deliver on its promise to “massively streamline” the regulation of biosimilars. Eliminating unnecessary clinical trial requirements could halve the time and cost of developing a biosimilar, according to Woollett. While regulators around the world are converging on ideas that will slash development times, commercial challenges, especially in the U.S., are far more challenging. The Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program has undermined the economic rationale for investing in biosimilars. President Donald Trump’s proposals for most favored nation pricing would “kill” the industry, Woollett said.
00:00 - Introduction 02:50 - Halving the Time and Cost 10:30 - Interchangeability 15:50 - The Importance of Market Share 22:08 - Most Favored Nation
Ep. 88 – From Satiety to Muscle: Zealand CEO Steensberg on Amylin’s Edge in Obesity
27 juin 2025
00:30:41
Mounting clinical evidence suggests amylin agonists could supplant GLP-1 molecules as the foundational backbone of future obesity therapy, says Zealand Pharma CEO Adam Steensberg on The BioCentury Show. One of the leading cardiometabolic biotechs, Zealand received the largest-ever upfront payment in a biotech licensing deal when it partnered its petrelintide with Roche for nearly $2 billion. The deal helped make amylin arguably the hottest target in obesity. In conversation with BioCentury’s Stephen Hansen, Steensberg goes behind the scenes of Zealand’s deal with Roche and also shares his vision for how the obesity treatment paradigm will evolve over the next five years. This episode of The BioCentury Show was sponsored by Faron.
00:00 - Introduction 02:18 - The Case for Amylin 16:44 - Roche Deal 21:04 - What’s Next for Obesity Therapies
Ep. 87 – Korea’s Biotech Playbook: Orum CEO SJ Lee on Going Global and Creating Novel Therapies
13 juin 2025
00:27:41
Globalizing quickly and gaining a first-mover advantage are the winning strategies for South Korean biotechs as they look to compete on the world stage, says Orum Therapeutics founder and CEO SJ Lee in conversation with BioCentury Executive Editor Jeff Cranmer on The BioCentury Show. Lee’s company, a leader in degrader-antibody conjugates, provides an example of how to run that playbook. Lee also spoke about where Korea fits in East Asia’s life sciences scene, how Western players can get to know the Korean biopharma industry, and what’s next for Orum’s pipeline. This episode of The BioCentury Show was sponsored by Faron.
02:11 - Korea's Biotech Ecosystem 09:57 - Evolution of Korean Biotech 16:08 - Orum's Degrader Antibody Conjugates
Ep. 86 – Macrophages, ASCO & Clever-1: Faron CEO Juho Jalkanen on Bexmarilimab’s Promise
04 juin 2025
00:10:22
The macrophage field has seen its share of setbacks, but Faron believes bexmarilimab, its humanized mAb that binds to immune checkpoint target Clever-1, has what it takes to get across the goal line at FDA. On a special sponsored edition of The BioCentury Show, Juho Jalkanen, founder and CEO of Faron Pharmaceuticals, explains how the Finnish biotech landed on Clever-1, and why the target might more effectively repolarize macrophages than therapies against other macrophage checkpoints. Jalkanen also discusses the Phase I/II data Faron presented for bexmarilimab in myelodysplastic syndrome at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago, and what’s next for the immunotherapy. This episode of The BioCentury Show was sponsored by Faron.
Ep. 85 - Stifel’s Opler on Trump 2.0's FDA & the Capital Markets
29 mai 2025
00:32:39
Notwithstanding the bad start that the Trump administration got off to on FDA, Tim Opler is optimistic that the agency will serve drug developers well, and sees enough good signals that the direction the agency is headed will not bring the difficult regulatory era that many in the industry feared. Opler, a managing director at Stifel, spoke to Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn on The BioCentury Show about why he’s optimistic about FDA, what he sees ahead for capital markets, competition in China, and three areas of innovation he’s focused on -- aging, women's health and the brain.
00:00 - Introduction 01:30 FDA under Trump 2.0 08:07 State of Capital Markets 13:13 China Competition 17:09 Innovation: Aging, Women’s Health & the Brain
Ep. 84 – Leadership Amid Turmoil: Moonlake CEO Jorge Santos Da Silva
21 mai 2025
00:29:19
As CEO of a vintage 2021 biotech, Jorge Santos Da Silva has had his leadership mettle tested by a pandemic, rising interest rates, a bear market, and a tumultuous U.S. policy environment — all while building the case for Moonlake’s lead program to become a top therapy for hidradenitis suppurativa and, eventually, a “pipeline-in-a-product.” The key for Santos Da Silva as founder and CEO of Moonlake Immunotherapeutics is to dial down the noise and focus on the key choices in front of you. “Moonlake has always existed in times of turmoil,” Santos Da Silva told Executive Editor Jeff Cranmer on The BioCentury Show, citing the recent M&A drought, high interest rates and political turmoil. “Understanding the situation from a cool perspective, being able to explain that to your people first, and then try to explain that to the Street and place the company in the right moment so that you have all the game in front of you" is his recipe for success as a CEO in biotech. Moonlake’s sonelokimab is expected to enter Phase III testing this year for HS; it's one of the most advanced multispecifics in the clinic for inflammation and immunology diseases.
View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/655903
00:00 - Introduction 01:48 - Landscape for HS Therapies 09:03 - Market Opportunity 19:40 - Next Steps for Moonlake
Ep. 83 – Europe’s Biotech Moment: Jérôme van Biervliet on Turning Uncertainty into Opportunity
02 mai 2025
00:31:54
Europe did not ask for this opportunity, says VIB’s Jérôme van Biervliet, but with FDA and the U.S. research funding situation headed into uncertain territory, it needs to use this moment to capitalize on its strengths in research, and address the shortcomings of its business and regulatory systems that have made it hard for biotech to fulfill its potential there. Van Biervliet is managing director of Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), a key player in the Belgian biotech landscape that has both a research arm and an investment unit. Ahead of BioCentury’s Bio€quity Europe conference in Bruges, which will discuss how Europe can meet the complexity of this moment, he talked to BioCentury Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn on The BioCentury Show about the landscape unfolding in Europe, as well as where he sees innovation headed.
Ep. 82 – Act Now or Fall Behind: Michelle Rozo on Biotech’s National Security Stakes
17 avr. 2025
00:31:01
The U.S. will cede its preeminence in biotechnology to China within three years unless the government acts urgently, an independent commission chartered by Congress warns. “Our window to act is closing,” the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology said in a newly released report. “We need a two-track strategy: make America innovate faster, and slow China down.” BioCentury Washington Editor Steve Usdin discusses the report's recommendations and warnings with the commission’s vice chair, Michelle Rozo, on The BioCentury Show.
View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/655654
00:00 - Introduction 03:56 - China Closing the Innovation Gap 09:20 - Slowing China Down 17:20 - Bolstering U.S. Biotech
Ep. 81 - Data-Driven Growth: Immunocore CEO Bahija Jallal on Expanding TCR Therapies
04 avr. 2025
00:30:52
On the latest episode of The BioCentury Show, Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn speaks with Bahija Jallal, CEO of Immunocore and the former president of Medimmune. While some biotechs are circumspect about gathering data during clinical trials that might not support the product in question, Jallal sees it as part of the obligation to patients and the field to learn as much as possible, as efficiently as possible. And that strategy has informed how the company will take its TCR technology into earlier lines of treatment and new indications.
View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/655504
00:00 - Introduction 04:18 - Getting a New Modality to Market 17:15 - Infectious Pipeline 22:04 - Autoimmune Pipeline 27:24 - Leading in Challenging Times
Ep. 80 - Vertex’s Winning Formula: Altshuler on Choosing the Next Breakthroughs
20 mars 2025
00:32:26
Vertex’s approach to research, defined over a decade ago to beat the dismal odds of success in biotech, remains core to its strategy, even as the industry evolves and technologies expand. While that strategy, which EVP and CSO David Altshuler calls “serial innovation,” has seen the company launch eight drugs since 2011 and jump market cap tiers on the success of its cystic fibrosis portfolio, it’s now being tested in other areas as Vertex expands to pain, renal disease, Type I diabetes, and more. In conversation with Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn on The BioCentury Show, Altshuler discussed the rising interest in causal biology and the role of AI, noting that the fundamentals of picking targets and programs have not changed.
00:00 - Introduction 02:12 - Causal Biology 08:48 - AI in R&D, at Vertex 16:35 - Academia-Industry Interface 22:00 - Cell Therapy for Diabetes 25:35 - Gene Therapy for DMD
Ep. 79 - BNP Paribas’ Moneer on Biotech’s Bull Case: M&A, PE, and Market Recovery
08 mars 2025
00:29:33
Since the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco in early January, biotech has seen a notable surge in enthusiasm, Zahid Moneer, senior managing director of investment banking at BNP Paribas, told The BioCentury Show. Moneer, who is more upbeat than many in today’s biopharma sector, sees capital raises from million-dollar seed rounds to nine-digit series A, B, and C rounds driving significant growth alongside M&A activity. In the interview, he also also highlights the growing role of private equity firms in biopharma and the trend of pharmas engaging earlier with biotechs and investors looking to deploy capital into those companies
Ep. 78 - Biotech’s New Normal: SR One’s Simeon George on Adapting to Market Constraints
20 févr. 2025
00:31:04
Biotechs need to get used to the new normal, says SR One CEO and Managing Partner Simeon George, and that will require significant adjustments to the business model. This new normal comes from an extended tough capital environment against a backdrop of political uncertainty, but while biotechs face a different set of factors than they have in the past, there are still first principles of value creation that should guide them. George, who co-founded SR One management in 2020 following its spinout from GSK, spoke on The BioCentury Show with Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn about the challenges facing biotechs and how VCs are navigating through the complexity of the moment. He also discussed SR One’s strategy and philosophy of investing.
Ep. 77 - AI’s Next Leap: Foresite Labs’ Vik Bajaj on Predictive Biology
07 févr. 2025
00:35:29
Clinical trials will be launched in the next year or two to test predictions about causal biology made by artificial intelligence models, Vik Bajaj, co-founder and CEO of Foresite Labs and managing director of Foresite Capital Management, believes. Foresite teamed up with Arch Venture Partners last year on a $1 billion venture round to fund Xaira Therapeutics, which aims to reinvent the R&D process via AI-driven protein design and biological discovery technologies. Bajaj, who serves as interim president of Xaira, discussed the potential for artificial intelligence to accelerate biomedical progress in an interview with Washington Editor Steve Usdin on The BioCentury Show.
00:00 - Introduction 01:18 - AI & Biotech 12:19 - Getting the Data Right 19:06 - Healthcare Delivery 30:47 - Making It Real
Ep. 76 - FDA Inflection Point: Steve Usdin on Biopharma during Trump 2.0
24 janv. 2025
00:34:01
All presidential transitions with a change of party come with disruption and threats as well as opportunities. But this one, in particular with regard to the implications for FDA, is different from all those Steve Usdin has been covering in his 30-year tenure as Washington editor at BioCentury. In particular, this is an inflection point for the agency that currently serves as the global gold standard for drug regulation, said Usdin on a special edition of The BioCentury Show covering the ramifications for the biopharma industry of the second Trump administration. Usdin has recently outlined the threats and opportunities that the new era presents, and he elaborated further on those in a discussion with Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn.
00:00 - Introduction 05:06 - Inflection Point at FDA 14:10 - Changes at the FTC 16:43 - China, Biosecure 21:30 - The IRA
Ep. 75 - PBMs, IRA, RFK Jr: A Conversation With Rep. Jake Auchincloss
13 janv. 2025
00:36:04
Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.), an influential voice in Congress on life sciences issues, gained stature last week when he was appointed to serve on the Energy & Commerce Committee, giving him a seat at the table for debates over legislation affecting FDA, CMS and NIH and a host of issues of critical importance to the biopharma industry. In an interview with Washington Editor Steve Usdin on The BioCentury Show, Auchincloss outlined his priorities for the 119th Congress, from pushing “muscular” PBM reform over the congressional finish line to finding bipartisan support for refining the IRA's orphan drug exemption and advancing methods to evaluate the social value of medicines.