Mike Cloonan is the President and CEO of Sionna Therapeutics, a life sciences company dedicated to developing therapies for people living with cystic fibrosis. They are developing first-in-class small molecules that are focused on a unique target with the potential to fully normalize CFTR function for the first time for the vast majority of people living with CF. Mike has over 20 years of experience in biotech and healthcare, 14 of which were spent working at Biogen where he was focused on the business and commercial side of the company. In this episode, he provides his perspective on the right time for a company to build out a commercial team and hire a commercial leader, his learnings stepping into a CEO role for the first time, and the current landscape of cystic fibrosis and what drew him to work on such an important patient population.

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Geoff Nosrati is the Chief Business Officer of Nutcracker Therapeutics, an early-stage company that is pioneering a revolutionary therapeutic development and manufacturing platform designed to enable the advancement of RNA-based treatments for as many diseases as possible. Early in his career, Geoff joined McKinsey & Co. as a consultant, working with biotech and pharma companies. He then worked with several small oncology-focused biotech companies, including Aduro Biotech and ImmunoScape before joining Nutcracker. In this episode he provides his perspective on the RNA space as it stands right now and the diversity of applications that exist, some of the opportunities and challenges of working on an RNA therapeutic, how he thinks about indication selection, Nutcracker’s complete RNA platform and the work they’re doing to develop therapeutics, and where the company is now from a building and R&D perspective.

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Luba Greenwood is the CEO of Kojin Therapeutics and Managing Partner of Dana Farber Cancer Institute Venture Fund. Kojin Therapeutics harnesses groundbreaking discoveries in cell state and ferroptosis biology to create novel therapies and cures for diseases traditionally considered intractable. The Dana Farber Cancer Institute Venture Fund accelerates the development of new research and technologies to treat incurable diseases, particularly in oncology and immunology. Luba discusses the early years of her career as a lawyer and how her legal experience relates to running a biotech company, her background in big pharma at Pfizer and Roche, and the work Kojin is doing in novel biology. She also dives into the qualities that she values in a board member, the importance of company culture, and her perspective on what good leadership looks like.

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Amber Salzman is the CEO of Epic Bio, a company that develops therapies to dynamically control gene expression and treat complex diseases. Dr. Salzman started her career in big pharma at GlaxoSmithKline before transitioning to the biotech industry and focusing on rare diseases. In this episode, she sits down with host Rahul Chaturverdi to discuss her learnings from moving from big pharma to biotech, how her roles differ from being a CEO vs. being a board member, her perspective on pursuing interesting technology in biotech, the work Epic Bio is doing in the genetic medicine space, and the role of patient advocacy in early stage biotechs. 

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Sean Bohen, MD, Ph.D., is the President and CEO of Olema Oncology, a company dedicated to developing targeted therapies for women with breast cancer. An oncologist by training, Dr. Bohen has a background in big pharma, having worked at Genentech and AstraZeneca before joining Olema. He talks with host Rahul Chaturverdi about the differences between working for biotech and big pharma companies, the work his team is pursuing at Olema, the opportunities and challenges within the breast cancer landscape, the ups and downs of running a biotech company and managing a team with the current market dynamics, and the importance of partnerships and how they can strength companies.

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Bill Hinshaw is the President and CEO of Axcella Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering a new approach to treat complex diseases using endogenous metabolic modulator (EMM) compositions. Bill entered biotech a little over four years ago following a long life sciences career in pharma, working for companies such as Novartis and Schering Plough. He joins host Rahul Chaturverdi for a discussion about where Axcella is from a development perspective and the therapeutic areas they’re pursuing, the company’s work to treat long Covid, the challenges of developing drugs to treat nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and Axcella’s “combination by design” multi-targeted approach to tackle complex diseases.

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Keith Flaherty is the Director of Clinical Research at Mass General Cancer Center and a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Flaherty is a medical oncologist and has worked in the field for 20+ years, during which he has founded seven biotech companies. He joins Rahul for an in-depth conversation about his work in oncology. They cover a wide range of topics including his early decision in school to switch from neuroscience to oncology, his entrepreneurial journey and what he’s learned along the way, his perspective on the immuno-oncology landscape and opportunities that lie ahead in this field, what he values in a board and how you can be most effective as a board member, and much more.

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Dennis Zaller is the Chief Scientific Officer of ROME Therapeutics, a company developing novel therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases by harnessing the power of the dark genome, defined as vast stretches of uncharted genetic material that have long been dismissed as “junk DNA.” Dennis joins host Rahul Chaturverdi for a conversation about ROME tx’s unique path to conquering disease and the multiple drug discovery programs they have underway. They also discuss Dennis’ transition to biotech after having worked in big pharma for 30 years, the application of data science and drug development at ROME tx, what the company’s pipeline and company building looks like over the next several years, and how the dynamic between biotech and big pharma has changed over the last 10-20 years, and where it’s headed.

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Ivan Dimov is the Co-Founder and CEO of Orca Bio, a cell therapy company focusing on next-generation precision cell therapies for blood cancer patients. Orca Bio’s cell therapies are designed to replace a patient’s cancerous blood and immune system with a healthy one, with the goal of improving survival rates and quality of life for survivors. Ivan discusses the historically limited treatment options for blood cancer patients and the resulting unmet need, how Orca Bio’s innovative technology is tackling this problem, and how he uses lessons from history to learn from failures and build success.

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