Off switches and non-viral delivery technologies may be the solution to CAR T therapies’ most recent safety problem. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss alternative CAR T technologies already in development that avoid or reduce the risk of secondary malignancy. The editors also discuss the world-first approval of Iovance's tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy, highlights from BioCentury’s most recent survey of the translational literature in the Distil...
Feb 21, 2024•25 min•Season 5Ep. 217
Anti-China biotech bills are raising alarms at U.S. biotechs, with CEOs worried they could lose access to CDMOs WuXi AppTec and WuXi Biologics, and that legislation could imperil collaboration with Chinese companies more broadly. BIO has warned Congress the bills “would immediately and negatively” affect the U.S. biotech ecosystem. On this special edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast BioCentury Washington Editor Steve Usdin and colleagues discuss the pending legislation. Reach us by sendi...
Feb 16, 2024•27 min•Season 5Ep. 216
Innate immunity is getting another shot at cancer through antibody-drug conjugates, with immunostimulatory antibody-drug conjugates moving from concept to clinical product. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss how the therapies work and what sets them apart from conventional ADCs. The editors also survey the companies developing psychedelic therapies that aim to overcome the difficulties of the business model, and assess Gilead's $4.3 billion takeout of liver ...
Feb 13, 2024•25 min•Season 5Ep. 215
As it approaches a steep patent cliff, Bristol Myers is charting its course to bridge a transition period and return to growth. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors assess the pharma’s pipeline and recent M&A, outlining the clinical and commercial successes the company needs to navigate the next few years. The editors also discuss what’s behind bills in Washington that target four Chinese companies identified by Congress as “biotechnology companies of concern," th...
Feb 06, 2024•30 min•Season 5Ep. 214
NASDAQ’s first biotech public listings of 2024 provided hopeful signs for a rebound in the biotech IPO market. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors assess the performance of IPOs by CG Oncology and ArriVent and what’s next for the IPO market. They also discuss the growing IL-18 field, look ahead to the schizophrenia milestones coming this year, and size up the Singapore biotech ecosystem and what the country needs to do to cement a position on the global biotech map. ...
Jan 30, 2024•28 min•Season 5Ep. 213
Biotech investors are looking to catalysts that can create, or dramatically expand, commercial markets as they look ahead to a long-awaited recovery for industry. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors assess the milestones on buysiders’ radar for 2024, including in areas such as obesity, pain and metabolic-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). They also discuss the influence of biopharma critic Arnold Ventures, a philanthropy that has reshaped the drug pricing public poli...
Jan 23, 2024•30 min•Season 5Ep. 212
Investors and bankers are as upbeat about biotech’s prospects heading into 2024 as they have been since 2020, but maintaining the momentum that began building in 4Q23 is contingent on the Fed meeting expectations that it will ease interest rates. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors assess the environment for financings and M&A in the year ahead. They also discuss Janet Woodcock’s legacy at FDA as she readies to step down at the end of the month and the latest dev...
Jan 17, 2024•22 min•Season 5Ep. 211
Cautious optimism was the theme during a J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference week that featured patchy skies, large-but-not-mega deals and a surfeit of sideline summits around San Francisco’s Union Square. BioCentury’s editorial team discusses the week’s M&A deals, including J&J's $2 billion takeout of ADC company Ambrx, and Merck & Co. acquiring T cell engager biotech Harpoon for nearly $700 million; takeaways from the Sachs Neuroscience Innovation Forum and other adjacent forums; and...
Jan 13, 2024•27 min•Season 5Ep. 210
A flurry of large acquisitions to close out 2023 is likely to carry into the New Year as pharmas continue to show appetite for late-stage assets. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss the latest trends in biotech M&A, potential takeout targets for 2024 and the impact on dealmaking of a more aggressive FTC. They also assess sentiment heading into next week’s J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, analyze future drivers of innovation in biotech, and preview the y...
Jan 05, 2024•38 min•Season 5Ep. 209
Signals from the Fed that rate cuts are on the way rallied biotech indexes last week, but is the uptick more than a blip? On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss how interest rate cuts could spur a risk-on rotation back into the sector by generalist investors, the possibility of biotech outperformance in 2024, and what it will take for the IPO window to open. They also assess progress demonstrated by companies’ with next-generation gene editors at this year’s Ame...
Dec 19, 2023•24 min•Season 4Ep. 208
FDA’s decision to approve two gene therapies for sickle cell diseases could be transformative for patients, but both multimillion-dollar drugs will face access issues. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss what’s next for the companies, and for patients, following the approvals. The editors also analyze how AbbVie is restocking its pipeline via M&A, including its second multibillion deal in a week, a takeout of Cerevel, and why the acquisition is important ...
Dec 12, 2023•31 min•Season 4Ep. 207
Biopharma’s latest pair of multibillion-dollar takeouts come in two of industry’s hottest areas: ADCs and obesity. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss the move by Roche into obesity via its acquisition of Carmot Therapeutics and the winding journey of ADC company ImmunoGen to its $10.1 billion buyout by AbbVie. BioCentury’s editors discuss what FDA’s statement on the risk of T cell malignancy following BCMA- or CD19-directed CAR T cell therapy means for compa...
Dec 05, 2023•20 min•Season 4Ep. 206
Radiopharmaceuticals have experienced a resurgence over the past decade, with a series of approvals, billion-dollar deals and growing sales. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, Director of Biopharma Intelligence Karen Tkach Tuzman previews her upcoming analysis of the space, discussing the multidimensional nature of the technology’s evolution, and the field’s next-wave targets behind PSMA and SSTR2. BioCentury’s editors also discuss the legacies of two U.S. lawmakers who won’t stand for ...
Nov 28, 2023•25 min•Season 4Ep. 205
The world’s first approval of a CRISPR-based gene editing therapy, granted by the U.K.’s MHRA, was a milestone for the technology that was just discovered about 12 years ago. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss the implications of the landmark and the challenges that still face partners Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics in launching and scaling the rollout of Casgevy exagamglogene autotemcel (exa-cel) in the U.K. and beyond. The editors also disc...
Nov 20, 2023•29 min•Season 4Ep. 204
Verve achieved the first proof of concept for an in vivo base editing therapy, but investor concerns weighed on the company’s stock, clouding the readout’s reception. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors dissect the data for VERVE-101 in heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia and discuss how the choice of initial target and indication for a new modality or technology can have a major impact on how POC data are perceived by investors. The editors also assess the la...
Nov 14, 2023•21 min•Season 4Ep. 203
The controversy around Sarepta continues as the company’s executives were confident last week that the data from the Phase III EMBARK trial of Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy Elevidys were enough to warrant full approval despite missing the study’s primary endpoint. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors analyze the pitfalls facing FDA as the agency considers whether to apply regulatory flexibility in its decision-making and the impact its decision could have f...
Nov 07, 2023•30 min•Season 4Ep. 202
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) had everything from practice changing Phase III data readouts to new solid tumor targets. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors recap the biggest data presentations from last week’s annual ESMO meeting, including the impact of Phase III data for ADCs and bispecifics on the treatment landscape for tumors such as urothelial cancer and EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The editors also discussed takeaways from...
Oct 30, 2023•18 min•Season 4Ep. 201
Daiichi Sankyo has drawn more value from its antibody-drug conjugate pipeline via a $4 billion deal with Merck & Co. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors analyze the deal in the context of the burgeoning ADC space and size up the assets that Merck is in-licensing as well as how the deal fits with Daiichi’s pipeline strategy. The editors break down Monday’s $7.1 billion deal by Roche for the Telavant subsidiary of Roivant Sciences, the latest in the evolving TL1A s...
Oct 24, 2023•28 min•Season 4Ep. 200
BayHelix’s Guo-Liang Yu and McKinsey’s Josie Zhou join the BioCentury This Week podcast to discuss cross-border innovation and deal flow in the biopharma sector during a preview of the BioCentury-BayHelix China Healthcare Summit. The summit kicks off at a time of record cross-border deals and validating comments from the leaders of MNCs such as Pfizer, Novartis and Sanofi that innovation by China biopharmas is world class. The 10th annual BioCentury-BayHelix China Healthcare Summit is Nov. 2-3 i...
Oct 20, 2023•24 min•Season 4Ep. 199
Now that Vas Narasimhan has finished the major dismantling of Novartis, he’s turning his attention to fixing R&D. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss what’s next for the Swiss pharma now that Narasimhan has focused it down to what he calls a pure play innovative medicines company. The editors also analyze the European Parliament’s proposed changes to the first major overhaul of European pharmaceutical law in 20 years, including suggested adjustments relat...
Oct 16, 2023•28 min•Season 4Ep. 198
BMS’s acquisition of Mirati for up to $5.8 billion not only gives the big pharma a potential best-in-class KRAS inhibitor in a field that appears to be opening up, but also a clinical program against one of the hottest targets in precision cancer, PRMT5. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss what Bristol Myers Squibb stands to gain from its acquisition of Mirati Therapeutics, which had rumors swirling about its potential takeout last week. BioCentury’s editors ...
Oct 09, 2023•29 min•Season 4Ep. 197
Biopharma companies are moving quickly to figure out how to optimize CAR T cell therapies for autoimmune diseases now that it’s becoming clear the modality has clinical activity and possibly even curative potential in the disease area. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss the trigger for this surge of interest, the indications, targets and companies in play and whether the technology can meet the higher safety bar in autoimmune indications. BioCentury’s editor...
Oct 03, 2023•29 min•Season 4Ep. 196
BayHelix’s Guo-Liang Yu and McKinsey’s Olivier Leclerc join the BioCentury This Week podcast to discuss cross-border innovation and deal flow in the biopharma sector and preview the upcoming BioCentury-BayHelix East-West Summit. Yu discusses the importance of the event for BayHelix, and Leclerc previews McKinsey’s second East-West Summit report, which will focus on the impact of AI on the sector. BioCentury co-founder, President and CEO Dave Flores, Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn, and head of B...
Sep 25, 2023•20 min•Season 4Ep. 195
That a broad swath of new money flowed into last week’s IPOs by RayzeBio and Neumora is a good sign for biotech and a departure from deals done last year, BioCentury's Stephen Hansen said on the latest BioCentury This Week podcast. Hansen and colleagues assess the offerings and the companies’ aftermarket performance alongside NASDAQ’s six other top biotech IPOs of the year for signs of what’s next for companies looking to go public. BioCentury’s editors also discuss what new regulatory requireme...
Sep 19, 2023•24 min•Season 4Ep. 194
Constructing deal terms to take advantage of both the translational research benefits in China and the market opportunity in the U.S. is slowly emerging as a strategy to advance CAR T cell innovation. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss how deals for the technology have evolved since the 2017 partnership between Legend and Janssen for Carvykti and the opportunity for East-West collaborations to drive CAR T cell development. BioCentury’s editors also assess wh...
Sep 12, 2023•23 min•Season 4Ep. 193
What are the criteria that enable companies to achieve the kind of success that leads to a jump in market cap tier? On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss Back to School 2023 , which examines the ingredients for building long-term, sustainable, high-value biotech companies. Reach us by sending a text
Sep 05, 2023•33 min•Season 4Ep. 192
Circular RNA’s durability could convey efficacy and manufacturing advantages over therapies based on linear mRNA. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss the rising therapeutic modality, with a look at the technology, companies and investors in the space. They also assess the pipeline of psychedelic therapies as the product candidates move toward proof of concept, homing in on psilocybin-based product candidates, which are the most abundant and some of the most a...
Aug 22, 2023•23 min•Season 4Ep. 191
There’s a tectonic shift happening in obesity research and drug development, BioCentury Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn said on the latest BioCentury This Week podcast. Fishburn and colleagues discuss how the success of obesity therapies from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly targeting the incretin axis has galvanized a wave of drug development with different molecular targets as well as last week’s threshold-setting cardiovascular outcomes trial data from Novo and recent obesity deals by the two compa...
Aug 14, 2023•18 min•Season 4Ep. 190
A complete response letter from FDA in major depressive disorder could severely dent the commercial prospects for Zurzuvae zuranolone even as the drug gained approval for postpartum depression. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors assess what the agency’s decision, which included a request for at least one additional study, means for Biogen and its partner Sage Therapeutics. BioCentury’s editors also discuss the thawing market for biotech IPOs, zeroing in on the dozen...
Aug 07, 2023•23 min•Season 4Ep. 189
An analysis of pharma deal trends over the past year shows a focus on first-in-class assets with autoimmune diseases being a major focus of interest. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss what the deal trends mean for prospective pharma partners and whether the expected focus on late-stage products, and a material increase in valuation for late-stage programs, is supported by the data. BioCentury’s editors also talk about a recent conversation with Genentech In...
Jul 31, 2023•26 min•Season 4Ep. 188
