Podcast
Behind Biotech
Hosted by Jingyi Liu, Eric Dai · EN
From mRNA vaccines to gene and cell therapies, biotech is changing the world. But who are the leaders behind these and other biotech innovations and what makes them so passionate about what they do?
In the Behind Biotech Podcast, we’re exploring not only disruptive trends in biotechnology, but also the stories of the founders, researchers, executives, patients, investors, and other leaders who dedicate their lives to improve healthcare through biotech.
10episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Season 2| China: Hong Tang on Traditional Chinese Medicine and Targeted Cancer Supportive Therapy
Aug 3, 202200:32:17Tap to summarizeHong Tang Biography Dr. Hong Tang is Chief Medical Officer, and co-founder of OnQuality Pharmaceuticals. Hong is a Board-certified internal medicine physician with more than 15 years’ experience in both drug development and medical affairs, and conducted all phases of clinical trials. She served as VP, Executive Medical Director, Medical Director, and Medical Officer in Dendreon, Juno, Astellas, BMS and NIH. OnQuality Pharmaceuticals is designing targeted cancer supportive care treatments aimed at preventing and treating the intolerable side effects caused by specific cancer drugs. Their mission is to make fighting cancer easier by alleviating the side effects of anti-cancer therapy, so the patients can continue cancer treatment and live with a better quality of life. OnQuality is based in Seattle and Shanghai. She received her medical degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine in Hefei, China, pursued her graduate study in Western medicine in Guangzhou, China, and at the University of Texas in San Antonio. She is also board certified in internal medicine and practiced as an internist in Indiana for almost 7 years. In this episode of Behind Biotech, we spoke with Hong about: Starting her career in Traditional Chinese Medicine, and how this education on holistic patient care influenced her career path The need for more targeted cancer supportive therapy, such as IL-6 inhibitors for CAR-T OnQuality’s current pipeline in oncodermatology and oncogastroenterology
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Season 2 | China: George Chen on Building a "In China, for Global" Biotech
Jun 29, 202200:35:55Tap to summarizeGeorge Chen Biography George Chen, MD MBA, is an oncologist by training with a successful track record in the world of global pharmaceutical companies. Prior to founding D3 Bio, Dr. Chen held senior global positions in research, drug development and management at leading institutions, such as the National Institutes of Health, and multinational pharmaceutical companies, such as Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, BeiGene, and Astra Zeneca. At these organizations he led development and regulatory registrations of blockbuster drugs into the U.S. and Chinese markets, directing more than 70 IND approvals and more than 30 NDAs. His medical degree is from the Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University and his MBA is from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. D3 Bio D3 Bio, Inc is an “in China, for global” biotech company aiming to become a world-class biotherapeutic company to develop and register the First/best-in-class medicines for cancer and autoimmune disease patients in large unmet medical needs through a continuously progressing cycle of using the insight of Development to guide Discovery and back to Development process. The company has launched 6 pre-clinical portfolio projects with first and best in class potential and recently received IND clearance from the FDA to initiate Phase 1 trial for D3S-001. D3 Bio is backed by a syndicate of world-class investors whose support underscores their belief in the promise of the Company. Major investors include Boyu Capital, Matrix Partners China, Sequoia Capital China, Temasek, and WuXi AppTec's Corporate Venture Fund. In this episode of Behind Biotech, we spoke with George about: Training as an oncologist in China in the 80s and his motivation to come to the US to learn about immunotherapy His experience of building the foundation of BeiGene as the company’s first Chief Medical Officer The success story of and lessons learned from developing Tagrisso, an EGFR-TKI for NSCLC, at Astrazeneca China D3 Bio’s plans after launching with a $200M Series A-the second largest Series A in 2020 of any biotech company
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Season 2| China: Bing Yuan on Global Outlicensing of Chinese Biotech
Jun 2, 202200:31:28Tap to summarizeDr. Bing Yuan is an entrepreneur and a seasoned business executive in business development and licensing (BD&L), marketing and new product strategy. He has made significant contributions to 13 approved global oncology drugs at various stages of product life cycle, including blockbusters such as Keytruda and Glivec. Before founding OnCusp, he was Chief Strategy and Business Officer at CStone Pharmaceuticals. As a senior executive from the beginning, he helped to build the company from scratch to successful IPO and a fully integrated biopharma. At CStone, he established and managed over 10 departments, such as BD&L, public relations, R&D project management and commercial organization. He successfully reached close to 10 strategic partnerships with Pfizer, Bayer, Blueprint, Agios, EQRx, etc. Before joining CStone in November 2016, he spent 22 years in the USA. He was Executive Director and Global Lead of Oncology BD&L at Merck (MSD), Global Head of Life Cycle Strategy and Executive Director at Novartis Oncology, Global Oncology Marketing Lead at Eisai, and Product Manager at Thermo-Fisher. He successfully led or contributed to over 40 M&A, licensing and Keytruda clinical collaboration deals. As a core member of the global project team (GPT), he played a key role in designing development strategy for 5 oncology drugs. He used to lead Glivec and Afinitor brand life cycle strategy, and participated in global launch of Zykadia in ALK+ lung cancer. Dr. Yuan holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Columbia University, an MBA from Cornell University and B.S. of Biochemistry from Nanjing University. In this episode of Behind Biotech with Bing, we discussed: Bing's professional journey from China to the US and back to China Catalysts behind the striking growth of the Chinese Biotech industry starting in 2015 Pioneering new models of global outlicensing of Chinese Biotech with OnCusp Therapeutics
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Season 2| China: Shawn Xiang on Building China's Rare Disease Ecosystem
May 9, 202200:28:28Tap to summarizeShawn Xiang Biography Dr. Xiang is the CEO of Rarestone Group, a company building the first rare disease ecosystem in China. Dr. Xiang has more than 15 years of leadership experience in pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Prior to RareStone, Shawn was the General Manager of Greater China and Emerging Asia Region at Abbott Diabetes Care, where he led his team and successfully launched FreeStyle Libre in China, Korea and Southeast Asia markets and achieved hyper-growth consecutively over the years. Shawn also led his team to build an ecosystem for patients living with Type 1 Diabetes, through strong collaboration with patient organizations, governments and industry partners. Prior to Abbott, Shawn served as the Franchise Head of Bone Disease and Respiratory Disease at Novartis China. He also served as the Director of Global Pharma Strategy at Novartis Global in Switzerland. Earlier in his career, Shawn was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Co. in the USA. Dr. Xiang holds a PhD degree from Yale University and a BS degree from Peking University. On this episode of Behind Biotech, we discussed with Shawn: Common misconceptions about rare disease in China Recent catalysts which catapulted rare disease development in China Rarestone’s unique model which combines a traditional biotech with a digital patient ecosystem
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Season 2| China: Brad Loncar on Investment Risk and Innovation Drivers in Chinese Biotech
Apr 14, 202200:52:12Tap to summarizeBrad Loncar Biography Brad Loncar is a biotechnology industry investor and CEO of Loncar Investments. He is the creator of two Nasdaq-listed biotech focused exchange-traded funds. Brad previously worked in the financial services industry at Franklin Templeton Investments where he was a member of the Management Training Program, and was appointed to serve in a Senior Advisor role at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He currently writes biotechnology commentary at www.LoncarBlog.com, Nasdaq.com, and contributes opinion pieces to Endpoints News. He’s also the co-host of Biotech Clubhouse, which recaps the week’s biotech news every Sunday at 4pm EST. On this episode we discussed with Brad: How he first became interested in China biopharma and his advice for getting ‘smart’ on the industry as a foreign investor. Key players in the China biopharma ecosystem, including investors as well as founder and company profiles How investors should think about regulatory and geopolitical risk when it comes to investing in China biotech
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Season 2 Introduction: The Dawn of Chinese Biotech
Apr 14, 202200:01:12Tap to summarizeWelcome to Season 2 of Behind Biotech. This season, we’re lucky to have a special guest host with us, Patrick Jiang, an MBA candidate at Harvard Business School, and the Co-Founder and CBO of InGel Therapeutics. This season, we’re taking a behind the scenes look at the booming China biotech scene. We’re profiling a series of founders, executives and investors who are hoping to build the next “Genentech” in Asia . In introducing this season, we also want to impart an important message to our listeners: In an increasingly global society where politics are unavoidable, we want you to remember that our guests share the mission of improving the lives of patients. Health is both an intensely personal, and universal experience which transcends borders. We hope that this season will give you a rare introduction to the visionaries who are building these companies on the other side of the world.
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Season 1|Penn: Ricky Barrett on Immunoengineering for Cancer and Empathy for Scientific Communications
Mar 25, 202200:40:29Tap to summarizeDr. Ricky Barrett Biography Ricky is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, where he works in the lab of Dr. Ellen Pure to better understand heterogeneity in the tumor stroma and how different cell types interact to influence tumor immune response with the direct goal of developing new stromal based therapeutics. He did his PhD in Biomedical sciences at the University of Central Florida, where he studied the role of innate immunity in metabolic disease. Ricky is currently managing collaborative projects with pharmaceutical companies in academic/industry partnerships. Moreover, Ricky is a leader in scientific communications. He has over 220k followers and 20M views on his science education content on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. In this episode of Behind Biotech, we discussed: Ricky’s nontraditional journey into science, including How his love for science began with (how a lot of relationships begin) a walk on the beach How Ricky went from being a marine biologist studying how stingrays smell, to an immunoengineer developing new ways of curing cancer with the immune system and developing CAR-T for the treatment of cardiac fibrosis The importance of empathetically and entertainingly communicating science to wide audiences through popular media, such as Instagram and TikTok (you can explore @rickyrick.phd)
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Season 1|Penn: Hyun (Michel) Koo on the Need for Innovation in Oral Health
Jan 25, 202200:30:15Tap to summarizeHyun (Michel) Koo, DDS, MS, PhD obtained his DDS from The Sao Paulo State University, Brazil, and later obtained his MS in Food Engineering and PhD in Oral Biology from The University of Campinas, Brazil as well as the University of Rochester Medical Center. Michel joined the faculty at Penn in 2013, where he has led interdisciplinary research integrating oral, biomedical and engineering sciences, culminating with the launch of the Center for Innovation & Precision Dentistry (CiPD), uniting the dental and engineering schools at Penn. Michel has been recognized as an outstanding leader for his pioneering work on understanding and modulating the oral biofilms for better health. In this episode of Behind Biotech, we discussed: Michel’s unique upbringing as a German-born Korean-Brazilian who immigrated to the United States, and how that unusual background informs his approach as a mentor and an inventor. The need to find more effective and affordable approaches to tackle the global burden of oral disease, which disproportionately affects vulnerable populations. His work as the Director of the Penn Center for Innovation & Precision Dentistry, including driving initiatives to develop advanced functional materials for craniofacial tissue restoration and teeth protection, using AI to understand oral diseases, and studying the use of robotics, nanomaterials and biotechnology to diagnose, treat, and prevent oral diseases more effectively.
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Season 1|Penn: Aimee Payne on Engineering Precision Dermatology
Dec 24, 202100:30:53Tap to summarizeAimee Payne MD, PhD is a Professor of Dermatology and Director of the Clinical Autoimmunity Center of Excellence at the University of Pennsylvania. She received her MD/PhD from Washington University School of Medicine, followed by dermatology residency and fellowship training at the University of Pennsylvania. Her clinical practice specializes in autoimmune blistering diseases including pemphigus and pemphigoid. Her laboratory research has investigated B cell repertoires in pemphigus in order to develop precision medicine therapies for disease. At Penn, Dr. Payne also serves as Core Director for the Skin Biology and Diseases Resource-based Center, Associate Director of the Medical Scientist (MD-PhD) Training Program, and faculty advisor for the Association of Women Student MD-PhDs. She is also a co-founder and co-chair of the Scientific Advisory Board at Cabaletta Bio, Inc., focused on developing targeted engineered T cell therapies for the treatment of patients with B cell-mediated autoimmune disease.
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Season 1| Penn: Anne Chew on Co-Founding Tmunity and Supporting Female Leaders in STEM
Nov 10, 202100:31:39Tap to summarizeAnne Chew, PhD, is the Executive Deputy Director for the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) Center for Cellular Immunotherapies (CCI) and one of the co-founders of Tmunity. She is responsible for overall strategic and operational leadership of all CCI-sponsored research programs and translational development initiatives in cell and gene therapy. Since 2006, she has served in senior regulatory, clinical operations, manufacturing operations and translational sciences roles at UPenn. Dr. Chew has more than 15 years of translational research and development experience in both industry and academic settings. Together with Novartis, Dr. Chew played a pivotal role in preparing the UPenn CTL019 submission to the FDA that was granted Breakthrough Designation, and served as Co-Chair on the UPenn-Novartis Global Program Team for CTL019 (Kymriah) clinical development, the first chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy to received regulatory approval. Dr. Chew received her undergraduate degree from Barnard College–Columbia University and her PhD in Genetics from Yale University School of Medicine.
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