The Bio Report

30:54

Developing Small Molecule Therapies to Target...

The Bio Report ·

2021/10/28

Integrins are a diverse family of proteins that play an essential role in many cellular biological processes. They also have been implicated a number of autoimmune, cardiovascular, and metabolic diseases, as well as fibrosis and cancer. While a number of biologics have come to market that target integrins, drug developers have been stymied in efforts to develop oral therapies that can target these proteins. Morphic Therapeutic is developing a new generation of oral integrin drugs it believes can

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38:12

Targeting Solid Tumors with Oncolytic Viruses

The Bio Report ·

2021/10/20

As the treatment of cancers has moved toward an increasing emphasis on the role the immune system can play in fighting tumors, a range of new ways to enlist and train the immune system have emerged. Candel Therapeutics is developing oncolytic viral immunotherapies, which it says combines anti-tumor activity while also stimulating the immune system. We spoke to Paul Peter Tak, president and CEO of Candel Therapeutics, oncolytic viral immunotherapies, how they work, and why they may be able to bring

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25:49

Reinventing the Discovery and Cell Line Development...

The Bio Report ·

2021/10/14

The discovery and cell line development of biotherapeutics has been traditionally a distinct process. Absci is taking what it describes as a more wholistic approach by collapsing the process down and addressing the functionality and manufacturability of therapeutic candidates simultaneously. We spoke to Sean McClain, founder and CEO of AbSci, about how it is using AI and synthetic biology to reinvent the discovery process, how this is expanding the therapeutic potential of proteins, and how it

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25:16

Engineering Off-the-Shelf Cell Therapies to Target...

The Bio Report ·

2021/10/07

While CAR-T cell therapies have been a promising new area of cancer treatments, they are costly to produce, have had limited success in treating solid tumors, and can carry sometimes serious side effects. Shoreline Biosciences is developing off-the-shelf natural killer and macrophage cellular immunotherapies derived from induced pluripotent stem cells for cancer, inflammatory, and genetic diseases. The company programs these cells to target and kill tumors, as well as repair tissue homeostasis. The

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30:27

Democratizing Drug Discovery

The Bio Report ·

2021/09/30

The ability to discover new drugs can be limited by the tools and technologies small companies can access. Alloy Therapeutics says it democratizing access to a set of technologies and capabilities that are foundational for discovering and developing biologics. We spoke to Errik Anderson, CEO of Alloy Therapeutics, discusses the challenges of drug discovery the company is seeking to address, its business model, and the dealmaking it has done to build beyond platform technologies to become involved in

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36:02

Scaling Genetic Counseling Services with AI

The Bio Report ·

2021/09/23

One of the consequences of the proliferation of genetic sequencing has been a shortage of genetic counselors. It’s left existing counselors to manage a heavy load as its increased the demands on onboarding patients, consenting them, educating them and interpreting results. The digital health company Igentify is helping providers and genetic counselors scale their services with its AI-based platform that extends through the entire genetic testing process. We spoke to Doron Behar, co-founder and CEO

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28:28

Programming Cell Therapies to Overcome Solid Tumor...

The Bio Report ·

2021/09/16

While CAR-T cell therapies have emerged as promising anti-cancer agents, their success have been focused on hematologic cancers. ArsenalBio is working to develop more robust cell therapies capable to treating a broader range of cancers by using synthetic biology to make them programable. We spoke to Ken Drazen, CEO of ArsenalBio, about the company’s next-generation T cell therapies, how it is able to program functions into these cells to overcome solid tumor defenses, and the company’s collaboration

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32:40

Using Liquid Biopsies to Diagnose Infectious Diseases

The Bio Report ·

2021/09/09

Liquid biopsies have become associated with the area of oncology as they hold the promise of using fragments of DNA circulating in the blood that have been shed by tumors to provide early indications of recurrence and customize treatment strategies. The same approach, though, can be used for infectious diseases. Karius has developed a liquid biopsy test to provide rapid and non-invasive detections of more than 1000 pathogens from a single blood draw. The Karius test helps clinicians avoid invasive,

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29:50

Striking Hepatitis B at Its Core

The Bio Report ·

2021/09/02

The World Health Organization estimates that 270 million people worldwide suffer from chronic hepatitis B virus infections, making it a global epidemic that affects more than twice the number of people with hepatitis C and HIV combined. HBV is a leading cause of chronic liver disease and the need for liver transplantation, with up to 1 million people worldwide dying from HBV-related causes each year. While current treatments reduce the viral load, they don’t eliminate it. Assembly Bio is developing

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32:53

Modulating Serotonin with Psychedelics to Treat...

The Bio Report ·

2021/08/26

Psychedelics have become an area of increasing investment and drug development activities as an emerging group of companies is working to develop these compounds as treatments for neurologic and psychiatric conditions. That’s because of the ability of these drugs to target serotonin, which plays a critical role in the regulation of cognitive function, emotions, memory, and the sleep-wake cycle. Bright Minds Biosciences is developing a pipeline of psychedelics as the next generation of serotonin

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30:45

A Procedural Therapy Seeks to Address Type 2 Diabetes...

The Bio Report ·

2021/08/19

Type 2 diabetes affects nearly 500 million people worldwide and more than 34 million people in the United States. The disease carries an elevated risks of heart attack, stroke, and other serious complications. Fractyl Health believes the approach to treating diabetes by controlling blood sugar levels and other symptoms has been faulty. Research has implicated a critical role the first section of intestine, known as the duodenum, plays in the condition and the company has developed a minimally

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26:50

Building a Better Path to Neurotherapeutics

The Bio Report ·

2021/08/12

The efforts to develop drugs for neurologic and psychiatric conditions has been plagued with failure. Herophilus is combining organoids derived from patient stem cells along with machine learning to gain new insight into the biology underlying these diseases and discover and develop more effective drugs. We spoke to Saul Kato, co-founder and CEO of Herophilus, about the drug development challenges for these diseases, how his company is using organoids and machine learning to better understand how to

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33:13

Taking a Portfolio Approach to Immuno-Oncology

The Bio Report ·

2021/08/05

While the class of immunotherapies known as checkpoint inhibitors has brought a promising new approach to treating cancer, the development of resistance to these therapies limits the number of patients they benefit. Portage Biotech is building a set of platform technologies and a pipeline of immuno-oncology therapeutic candidates to address this problem. We spoke to Ian Walters, CEO of Portage about the problem of resistance, the company’s pipeline of candidates, and its portfolio-based business

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30:11

Engineering Life to Reach New Worlds

The Bio Report ·

2021/07/29

Earth will not live forever. Whether its destruction comes as the result of cosmic inevitability or human-caused cataclysm, the planet will eventually meet its demise. Though that may be billions of years from now, Chris Mason in his book “The Next 500 Years,” argues humans have a more obligation to do what they can ensure life from Earth can extend beyond the planet. Mason, principal investigator on NASA’s twins study and a professor at Weill Cornell Medicine, discussed the effects of space on the

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19:50

Targeting Cancer Drug Side Effects at Their Source

The Bio Report ·

2021/07/22

While great strides have been made the fight against cancer with new therapies, dose-limiting toxicities of these agents can have a big impact on the quality of life for patients and lead doctors to alter dosing at the price of optimal outcomes. Rather than treating the symptoms of the side effects of cancer drugs, OnQuality Pharmaceuticals is developing a pipeline of therapies that target the biologic pathways that at their source. It is developing targeted supportive therapies to treat such things

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41:20

Mapping the Universe of Human Proteins

The Bio Report ·

2021/07/15

While great progress has been made in understanding the human genome, its functional counterpart, the human proteome, remains relatively unexplored. In part, that’s because advances in the tools to identify the far bigger universe of protein variants has been lacking. Seer Bio has developed a platform for large-scale proteomics studies that it says is both unbiased and scalable. We spoke to Omid Farokhzad, chair and CEO of Seer Bio, about the state of proteomics, How Seer’s technology works, and why

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47:19

Fighting Disease by Modulating the Translation of...

The Bio Report ·

2021/07/08

The development of mRNA therapies is allowing drug developer to pursue targets once considered undruggable. Anima Biotech has developed a platform that allows it to use small molecule that selectively control mRNA and can decrease or increase the translation of proteins. The approach has broad applicability as evidenced by the company’s pipeline, which includes experimental therapies for oncology, neurology, infectious disease, and fibrosis. We spoke to Yochi Slonim, CEO of Anima, about the company

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33:27

Fixing Biopharma’s R&D Productivity by Taking a Cue...

The Bio Report ·

2021/07/01

The biopharmaceutical industry has long struggled with R&D productivity. Long time industry strategic consultant Mike Rea, founder and CEO IDEA Pharma, thinks he’s hit on a possible solution. Taking a cue from the tech industry, Rea in May announced the launch of Protodigm, which he describes as a contract skunkworks company. The approach is intended to allow a multi-disciplinary team work autonomously to take its clients early-stage assets and explore multiple development options at once with the

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31:31

An Affordable and Widely Available Drug Offers Global...

The Bio Report ·

2021/06/24

While cities across the country have lifted COVID-19 restrictions and public gatherings have returned, the lack of effective treatments for people who develop severe reactions to the virus continues to pose a public health problem. The situation is acute in less developed nations where vaccination levels are low, and hospitals continue to be overrun with patients. Researchers at Mount Sinai earlier this year reported in the journal Cell that a widely available and inexpensive drug targeting

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23:15

A Gene Therapy to Program the Body to Produce a...

The Bio Report ·

2021/06/17

Osteoarthritis is a painful, progressive disease of the joints for which there is no cure. The condition affects more than 32.5 million adults in the United State and the incidence is growing as a result of aging, obesity, and sports injuries. Flexion Therapeutics is developing an experimental gene therapy to treat the condition. Rather than correcting an underlying genetic mutation, the experimental therapy delivered into the joint codes for the production of the anti-inflammatory protein

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