Don Nicholson

Nimbus Therapeutics is in the business of building structures. Molecular yes, but corporate too — they’re unique and fit-for-purpose. CEO Don Nicholson explains it all: the partnerships, the code names, the high energy water, the bowling, the rapping. And how, at any given time, fully half of Amazon’s cloud computing power may be in use to create your next medicine.

<a href="http://www.nimbustx.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Nimbus Therapeutics</a> is in the business of building structures. Molecular yes, but corporate too — they’re unique and fit-for-purpose. CEO Don Nicholson explains it all: the partnerships, the code names, the high energy water, the bowling, the rapping. And how, at any given time, fully half of Amazon’s cloud computing power may be in use to create your next medicine.

Don Nicholson of Nimbus: Making it Rain

Eric Schadt may enjoy the simple things in life — high velocity, a good polo shirt — but he is the first to admit that life is not simple. Living things are such complex systems, in fact, that our best chance to promote wellness is to understand them as vast information networks.  To do so, Eric is unleashing maximum scale and bringing the firepower of math to bear. He endeavors to monitor and modify humans-slash-networks, both as CEO of the new genomics startup Sema4, and as Dean for Precision Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai. This episode was recorded in front of a live audience, on location – outdoors no less – at the Foundation2017 conference. Make of it what you will: as soon as Eric discussed god, the birds start chirping.

Eric Schadt may enjoy the simple things in life — high velocity, a good polo shirt — but he is the first to admit that life is not simple. Living things are such complex systems, in fact, that our best chance to promote wellness is to understand them as vast information networks. To do so, Eric is unleashing maximum scale and bringing the firepower of math to bear. He endeavors to monitor and modify humans-slash-networks, both as CEO of the new genomics startup <a href="https://sema4genomics.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sema4</a>, and as Dean for Precision Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at <a href="http://icahn.mssm.edu/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mt. Sinai</a>. This episode was recorded in front of a live audience, on location – outdoors no less – at the Foundation2017 conference. Make of it what you will: as soon as Eric discussed god, the birds start chirping.

Giving it his best Schadt

Alix Lacoste

Alix Lacoste crossed the ocean from France in search of new challenges, made her way to California, ran out of money and took up filmmaking in community college. Insert the windy road that led to Neurobiology degrees from Berkeley and Harvard. Today she is a subject matter expert at IBM’s internal venture: Watson. You may remember IBM Watson from such disruptions as winning Jeopardy against humans in 2011. Now it is disrupting Drug Discovery as part of its effort in (human) health.  Alix discusses some examples of how it’s tackling that challenge, including partnering with pharma companies and institutes to find unique disease genes. You might say there’s a new paradigm in genetics: Watson and Click.

Alix Lacoste crossed the ocean from France in search of new challenges, made her way to California, ran out of money and took up filmmaking in community college. Insert the windy road that led to Neurobiology degrees from Berkeley and Harvard. Today she is a subject matter expert at IBM’s internal venture: Watson. You may remember IBM Watson from such disruptions as winning Jeopardy against humans in 2011. Now it is disrupting <a href="https://www.ibm.com/watson/health/life-sciences/drug-discovery/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Drug Discovery</a> as part of its effort in (human) health. Alix discusses some examples of how it’s tackling that challenge, including partnering with pharma companies and institutes to find unique disease genes. You might say there’s a new paradigm in genetics: Watson and Click.

Alix Lacoste: Druggable Jeopardy!

Scott Kamholz

Strong patent protection has always been a cornerstone of the biotech industry — and table stakes in a VC deal. But inter partes review has significantly changed the game in the last 5 years.  Enter Scott Kamholz. Scott is once, twice, three times a doctor: Medicinae, Philosophiae, and Juris. He went from partner at a law firm, to patent judge, became a foremost expert in inter partes review, and then back to private practice at Covington &amp; Burling with 250 IPR cases under his belt. Whether you’re a baby biotech with a patent license as your only asset or large pharma with marketed products to worry about, he is a good person to know.  Scott is a great legal mind, but he cannot give a straight answer to a yes or no question.

Strong patent protection has always been a cornerstone of the biotech industry — and table stakes in a VC deal. But inter partes review has significantly changed the game in the last 5 years. Enter Scott Kamholz. Scott is once, twice, three times a doctor: Medicinae, Philosophiae, and Juris. He went from partner at a law firm, to patent judge, became a foremost expert in inter partes review, and then back to private practice at <a href="http://www.cov.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Covington &amp; Burling</a> with 250 IPR cases under his belt. Whether you’re a baby biotech with a patent license as your only asset or large pharma with marketed products to worry about, he is a good person to know. Scott is a great legal mind, but he cannot give a straight answer to a yes or no question.

Patently Scott Kamholz

Joe Allen

If you work in biotech, or venture capital, if you pay taxes, or take medicine… you really ought to know the name Joe Allen. He worked tirelessly behind the scenes in Washington to get the Bayh-Dole Act passed into law. Sponsored by Senators Birch Bayh and Bob Dole, and passed at the last possible opportunity in a lame duck session of Congress in 1980, it is the legislation that realigned the incentives of the patent system to enable small biotech companies and their investors to flourish. And Joe’s been implementing, overseeing, protecting, sharing, and blogging about it ever since. 

If you work in biotech, or venture capital, if you pay taxes, or take medicine… you really ought to know the name <a href="http://www.allen-assoc.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Joe Allen</a>. He worked tirelessly behind the scenes in Washington to get the Bayh-Dole Act passed into law. Sponsored by Senators <a href="http://www.birchbayh.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Birch Bayh</a> and <a href="http://www.bobdole.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bob Dole</a>, and passed at the last possible opportunity in a lame duck session of Congress in 1980, it is the legislation that realigned the incentives of the patent system to enable small biotech companies and their investors to flourish. And Joe’s been implementing, overseeing, protecting, sharing, and <a href="http://www.ipwatchdog.com/author/joeallen/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">blogging</a> about it ever since.

Joe Allen on the Bayh-otechnology Industry

Deborah Dunsire

Deborah Dunsire was a general practitioner in South Africa when a motorcycle drove her into industry. And that side trip, ultimately routing her to Boston, is still going on. She built the North American Oncology unit at Novartis, launched Gleevec, ran Millennium after the millennium, realized the value in Velcade, took a foray into Forum, and recently announced her latest role, President and CEO of XTuit Pharmaceuticals. 

Deborah Dunsire was a general practitioner in South Africa when a motorcycle drove her into industry. And that side trip, ultimately routing her to Boston, is still going on. She built the North American Oncology unit at <a href="https://www.novartisoncology.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Novartis</a>, launched <a href="https://www.gleevec.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Gleevec</a>, ran <a href="https://www.takedaoncology.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Millennium</a> after the millennium, realized the value in <a href="http://www.velcade.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Velcade</a>, took a foray into Forum, and recently announced her latest role, President and CEO of <a href="http://xtuit.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">XTuit Pharmaceuticals</a>.

Deborah Dunsire: Business XTuition

Art Pappas had an extensive, international career in the pharma industry before going on to form his eponymous VC firm in the 90s.  Pappas Ventures has been partnering with pharma ever since: licensing assets from them, selling portfolio companies to them, syndicating with them, and managing venture funds for them. But perhaps most notable is the list of pharma and strategic limited partners they brought together to invest in their newest fund — Pappas V — it’s a record, even for them. 

Art Pappas had an extensive, international career in the pharma industry before going on to form his eponymous VC firm in the 90s. <a href="http://www.pappasventures.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Pappas Ventures</a> has been partnering with pharma ever since: licensing assets from them, selling portfolio companies to them, syndicating with them, and managing venture funds for them. But perhaps most notable is the list of pharma and strategic limited partners they brought together to invest in their newest fund — Pappas V — it’s a record, even for them.

The Art of Pappas

Stacey Seltzer

If the mantra in real estate is location location location, for venture capital it might just be timing timing timing. Stacey Seltzer made the move from big pharma into venture capital during a financial crisis and has gone on to build a wildly diverse portfolio of healthcare companies at Aisling Capital. She takes us on a tour of some of the highlights, and reveals what venture capitalists do for fun.

If the mantra in real estate is location location location, for venture capital it might just be timing timing timing. Stacey Seltzer made the move from big pharma into venture capital during a financial crisis and has gone on to build a wildly diverse portfolio of healthcare companies at <a href="https://www.aislingcapital.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Aisling Capital</a>. She takes us on a tour of some of the highlights, and reveals what venture capitalists do for fun.

Stacey Seltzer on VC: Timing Timing Timing

Marc Pelletier

Marc was a podcaster before it was cool. That is, 2006. While producing over 100 hours of interviews on his show “Futures in Biotech” he confirmed his own future was in biotech, starting one and then another. Bypassing his jazz guitar talents and multiple black belts, he launched Aeromics out of Yale to develop the world’s 1st clinical candidate targeting a water channel for the treatment of brain swelling in stroke. And then there’s Dodo Omnidata, Inc. which is developing a read/write hard drive that stores data in DNA.

Marc was a podcaster before it was cool. That is, 2006. While producing over 100 hours of interviews on his show “<a href="http://futuresinbiotech.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Futures in Biotech</a>” he confirmed his own future was in biotech, starting one and then another. Bypassing his jazz guitar talents and multiple black belts, he launched <a href="http://aeromics.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Aeromics</a> out of Yale to develop the world’s 1st clinical candidate targeting a water channel for the treatment of brain swelling in stroke. And then there’s <a href="http://www.dodoomnidata.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dodo Omnidata, Inc.</a> which is developing a read/write hard drive that stores data in DNA.

Daily Digestif featuring Marc Pelletier

Sara Demy

If Biotech Showcase is the farm team for JPM, then Sara Demy is the coach. She literally got high fives as her new conference burst onto the scene, bust out of its first two locations, and now boasts 400 presenting companies and 1,000 investors. And there are new offspring offerings in the Demy-Colton family as well…

If <a href="https://ebdgroup.knect365.com/biotech-showcase/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Biotech Showcase</a> is the farm team for JPM, then Sara Demy is the coach. She literally got high fives as her new conference burst onto the scene, bust out of its first two locations, and now boasts 400 presenting companies and 1,000 investors. And there are new offspring offerings in the <a href="http://demy-colton.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Demy-Colton</a> family as well…

Daily Digestif featuring Sara Demy

Enjoyed the first few podcasts. Janelle has a defusing style that makes her guests relatable, and offers valuable insight into a complex field.

Deconstructing biotech

HUMAN PROOF OF CONCEPT

In the late nineties, a company named "Advanced Medicine" came together with the 4Cs of entrepreneurship in place: a concept, co-founders, capital, and some well-placed cold-calls. Mathai Mammen was one of those co-founders, still living in a dorm at the time. The company's investors evolved, it renamed itself, went public, and ultimately split into two independent companies: Innoviva (INVA) and Theravance Biopharma (TBPH).Today, Mathai is the SVP of R&amp;D at Theravance Biopharma. Under his leadership, they have always done things a little differently. In the beginning they used their seed capital to build an in-house vivarium. They have discovered all of their development candidates - 31 and counting - internally or collaboratively. And after 3 approvals, they left their royalty stream to Innoviva and struck out on their own to focus on R&amp;D - because "it's difficult to be innovative when you're in the shadows."Mathai has had a longstanding reputation as one of the good guys in the industry, but in recent years he has doubled down. After two extraordinary family tragedies, he calls out the importance of persistence, humility, and empathy above all - both in and outside of business.

In the late nineties, a company named "Advanced Medicine" came together with the 4Cs of entrepreneurship in place: a concept, co-founders, capital, and some well-placed cold-calls. Mathai Mammen was one of those co-founders, still living in a dorm at the time. The company's investors evolved, it renamed itself, went public, and ultimately split into two independent companies: Innoviva (INVA) and Theravance Biopharma (TBPH). Today, Mathai is the SVP of R&amp;D at Theravance Biopharma. Under his leadership, they have always done things a little differently. In the beginning they used their seed capital to build an in-house vivarium. They have discovered all of their development candidates - 31 and counting - internally or collaboratively. And after 3 approvals, they left their royalty stream to Innoviva and struck out on their own to focus on R&amp;D - because "it's difficult to be innovative when you're in the shadows." Mathai has had a longstanding reputation as one of the good guys in the industry, but in recent years he has doubled down. After two extraordinary family tragedies, he calls out the importance of persistence, humility, and empathy above all - both in and outside of business.

The Multivalent Mathai Mammen

Ron Cohen

Ron Cohen has defied Venture Capital wisdom by founding Acorda Therapeutics over 20 years ago and remaining the CEO to this day.  Originally hearing "no" from 70 VCs, he nevertheless grew the company into a public biotech worth nearly $2B today.  As unlikely as that has been, there would've been no Acorda had he found more success on Broadway.Ron discusses his road from Jeopardy! champion to entrepreneur, the role played by his flat head and great hair, and what on earth could motivate someone to invest in drug development. He also explains how upstate NY does not start at 96th St.The two-part interview continues in the following episode, Part 2.

Ron Cohen has defied Venture Capital wisdom by founding Acorda Therapeutics over 20 years ago and remaining the CEO to this day.  Originally hearing "no" from 70 VCs, he nevertheless grew the company into a public biotech worth nearly $2B today.  As unlikely as that has been, there would've been no Acorda had he found more success on Broadway. Ron discusses his road from Jeopardy! champion to entrepreneur, the role played by his flat head and great hair, and what on earth could motivate someone to invest in drug development. He also explains how upstate NY does not start at 96th St. The two-part interview continues in the following episode, Part 2.

Ron Cohen: Founder & Confounder (Part 1)

Greg Verdine

Greg Verdine has evolved from merely being a Harvard prof, to consulting for big pharma, to starting biotech companies, to being a Venture Partner, and even to co-founding a non-profit institute – not just sequentially, but largely in parallel.He has teamed up with Third Rock Ventures, TPG Biotech, AppleTree Partners, and he unveils his brand new gig with WuXi Ventures.Greg co-founded the biotechs Enanta (ENTA), Tokai (TKAI), Gloucester (now Celgene), Aileron, Warp Drive, WaVe (WVE), and Fog. His day job today, if forced to list just one, is CSO of Warp Drive Bio. He reveals a couple of secrets about Warp Drive strategy and lifts the fog off of Fog Pharma, his latest – and still stealth – newco.As different as these companies are, a common theme runs through them: to cure the incurable by drugging the undruggable.  With apologies to Star Trek, that is Greg’s personal mission: to boldly go where no drug has gone before.In fact Greg wants to blow up the conventional meaning for the word "drug". He sees beyond the pharma industry’s small molecules plus the biotech industry’s biologics, because they seem positively “puny” in the context of human biology. And he has clever tricks and other modalities at his disposal – not to mention the blueprints: 135,000 bacterial genomes, where the answers cannot hide.

Greg Verdine has evolved from merely being a Harvard prof, to consulting for big pharma, to starting biotech companies, to being a Venture Partner, and even to co-founding a non-profit institute – not just sequentially, but largely in parallel. He has teamed up with Third Rock Ventures, TPG Biotech, AppleTree Partners, and he unveils his brand new gig with WuXi Ventures. Greg co-founded the biotechs Enanta (ENTA), Tokai (TKAI), Gloucester (now Celgene), Aileron, Warp Drive, WaVe (WVE), and Fog. His day job today, if forced to list just one, is CSO of Warp Drive Bio. He reveals a couple of secrets about Warp Drive strategy and lifts the fog off of Fog Pharma, his latest – and still stealth – newco. As different as these companies are, a common theme runs through them: to cure the incurable by drugging the undruggable.  With apologies to Star Trek, that is Greg’s personal mission: to boldly go where no drug has gone before. In fact Greg wants to blow up the conventional meaning for the word "drug". He sees beyond the pharma industry’s small molecules plus the biotech industry’s biologics, because they seem positively “puny” in the context of human biology. And he has clever tricks and other modalities at his disposal – not to mention the blueprints: 135,000 bacterial genomes, where the answers cannot hide.

Greg Verdine will not take “undruggable” for an answer

Moderna is the Kendall Square startup developing a variety of drugs made of messenger RNA, leaving your cells to translate them into proteins. Forging a new ecosystem doesn’t come cheap: in only 5 years, Moderna has raised nearly $2B and is valued around $5B.Its financial position may be the envy of its biotech neighbors, but it is also polarizing. It has generated intrigue and invited scrutiny, including in a recent article that questioned both the science and culture under its CEO, Stéphane Bancel. Quite the juxtaposition since it was just announced that Moderna is - again - one of Science’s Top Employers, and has even moved up in the ranks. What is going on over there?In this episode, Stéphane is the messenger. He takes us inside the how and why of Moderna.

Moderna is the Kendall Square startup developing a variety of drugs made of messenger RNA, leaving your cells to translate them into proteins. Forging a new ecosystem doesn’t come cheap: in only 5 years, Moderna has raised nearly $2B and is valued around $5B. Its financial position may be the envy of its biotech neighbors, but it is also polarizing. It has generated intrigue and invited scrutiny, including in a recent article that questioned both the science and culture under its CEO, Stéphane Bancel. Quite the juxtaposition since it was just announced that Moderna is - again - one of Science’s Top Employers, and has even moved up in the ranks. What is going on over there? In this episode, Stéphane is the messenger. He takes us inside the how and why of Moderna.

Stéphane Bancel: The Messenger is the Medium

Colin Cahill

Colin Cahill swears he didn’t grow up wanting to be a life science venture capitalist. But you would think he had planned it from his very first job cleaning glassware. His path from there to Venrock may appear linear after the fact, but at the time it was based on serendipity plus a hunch he should stay close to both science and business for as long as possible.In this episode, Colin deconstructs some of the great VC mysteries:How do they decide which deals to do, since “there’s no rules-based decision paradigm for venture investing”?Why, when other VCs have run screaming from med devices, has Venrock retained its breadth?And what does “falling in love” mean when a venture capitalist says it?

Colin Cahill swears he didn’t grow up wanting to be a life science venture capitalist. But you would think he had planned it from his very first job cleaning glassware. His path from there to Venrock may appear linear after the fact, but at the time it was based on serendipity plus a hunch he should stay close to both science and business for as long as possible. In this episode, Colin deconstructs some of the great VC mysteries: How do they decide which deals to do, since “there’s no rules-based decision paradigm for venture investing”? Why, when other VCs have run screaming from med devices, has Venrock retained its breadth? And what does “falling in love” mean when a venture capitalist says it?

Colin Cahill’s Venrock Diagram

Today, Francois Nader is merely President of the Jesra Foundation, trustee of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of Acceleron Pharma (XLRN), Director of ArRETT Neuroscience, Clementia Pharma, and Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAAP), and Advisory Board member of the Open Future Institute.But you might remember him from such former roles as President, CEO and Executive Director of NPS Pharma (NPSP now Shire) prior to its $5.2B acquisition, Venture Partner at Care Capital, 2013 Ernst and Young National Life Science Entrepreneur of the Year, Chairman of BioNJ, and Board member of BIO, Noven (NOVN), Trevena (TRVN), and Baxalta (BXLT now also Shire).He joins me to describe the art of being small while thinking big, and to share some decidedly unconventional wisdom.

Today, Francois Nader is merely President of the Jesra Foundation, trustee of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of Acceleron Pharma (XLRN), Director of ArRETT Neuroscience, Clementia Pharma, and Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAAP), and Advisory Board member of the Open Future Institute. But you might remember him from such former roles as President, CEO and Executive Director of NPS Pharma (NPSP now Shire) prior to its $5.2B acquisition, Venture Partner at Care Capital, 2013 Ernst and Young National Life Science Entrepreneur of the Year, Chairman of BioNJ, and Board member of BIO, Noven (NOVN), Trevena (TRVN), and Baxalta (BXLT now also Shire). He joins me to describe the art of being small while thinking big, and to share some decidedly unconventional wisdom.

Francois Nader: Be Small But Think Big

Bill Newell

Bill Newell is a lawyer turned large molecule wrangler. He’s CEO of Sutro Biopharma, and their special sauce - literally - lets them manipulate and manufacture antibodies with the kind of control scientists have had over small molecules for decades.Where other biotechs find scientific challenges can threaten their survival, with Sutro it comes down to strategic challenges. And Bill has led them to enviable partnerships, capital, and optionality.Sutro has an unfair advantage: Bill Newell.

Bill Newell is a lawyer turned large molecule wrangler. He’s CEO of Sutro Biopharma, and their special sauce - literally - lets them manipulate and manufacture antibodies with the kind of control scientists have had over small molecules for decades. Where other biotechs find scientific challenges can threaten their survival, with Sutro it comes down to strategic challenges. And Bill has led them to enviable partnerships, capital, and optionality. Sutro has an unfair advantage: Bill Newell.

Bill Newell: Sutro has an Unfair Advantage

The best episodes for anyone looking to learn more about topics such as happiness, fulfillment, depression and psychology/mental health in general. With interviews with industry experts, personal stories of individuals, this topic has lessons applicable to everyone. Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!

Best Episodes on Mental Health, Emotions & Thoughts

The best podcasts about ourselves as well as the world through the lense of Science. Specific topics include things about our brain, emotions to biology, physics and more!