Eric Dobmeier is the President and CEO of Chinook Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company discovering, developing and commercializing precision medicines for rare, severe chronic kidney diseases. Eric discusses how his early years as a lawyer working in-house as general counsel for Seattle Genetics (now Seagen), ultimately led him to running his own biotech company. He talks about the landscape of kidney disease, the current unmet need, what opportunities he sees in the space, and the growing interest in kidney disease amongst big pharma. He also discusses the progress Chinook has made over the last several years, particularly the three clinical stage programs they currently have, and what’s ahead for the company.

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Faraz Ali is the CEO of Tenaya Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company with a mission to discover, develop and deliver potentially curative therapies that address the underlying causes of heart disease. Faraz discusses his non-traditional background as an electrical engineer before he found his passion for applying science and technology to healthcare problems. He talks about his experience working at Genzyme and what aspects from his time there he still carries with him today. Faraz also discusses his perspective on the application of genetic modalities, and his team’s work pursuing treatment for both rare and prevalent forms of heart disease. Finally, he talks about what it’s like being a first time CEO and his thoughts on team building.

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Gregory Verdine, Ph.D., is the Co-Founder, President and CEO of LifeMine Therapeutics and FogPharma. LifeMine Therapeutics is reinventing drug discovery by mining genetically-encoded small molecules (GEMs) from the biosphere. FogPharma is developing a new class of drugs to address the limitations of today’s precision medicines and achieve universal druggability. In this episode, Greg discusses his unique journey from starting as an academic scientist to transitioning to an investor, and how that exposure to the venture world rounds out his approach to how he now runs biotechs. He talks about what it’s been like running two companies for six years and how he structures his time so he can successfully operate between the two. He also discusses fundraising in a challenging environment and the importance of being part of a team in biotech.

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Kate Haviland is the CEO of Blueprint Medicines, a global precision therapy company that creates life-changing medicines for people with cancer and blood disorders. Applying an approach that is both precise and agile, they create medicines that selectively target genetic drivers, with the goal of staying one step ahead across stages of disease. Kate discusses beginning her career at Genzyme before joining Blueprint Medicines, and what the transition to becoming CEO was like after having held various different roles at Blueprint. She also talks about how personalized medicine is transforming patient care, and the company’s focus on applying precision medicine to cancer and hematologic diseases. Finally, she dives into how the current environment informs how she approaches leading a publicly traded biotech and her perspective on partnerships.

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Asit Parikh, M.D., Ph.D., is the President and CEO of MOMA Therapeutics, a biotech company discovering the next generation of precision medicines by targeting highly dynamic proteins that underlie human disease. Asit discusses his experience and learnings being the CEO of a biotech for the first time and his approach to recruiting high quality talent. He also talks about the inherent risks in drug development, how he manages the emotional ups and downs, and provides his perspective on how drug development has changed and evolved over the last couple decades.

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Samir Ounzain is the CEO and Co-Founder of HAYA Therapeutics, a precision medicines company developing RNA-guided programmable therapeutics targeting the regulatory genome for serious health conditions including fibrosis. Samir discusses the current landscape as it relates to precision medicine and genomic medicine and what his team is hoping to achieve over the next year. He also talks about the evolution of his approach to fundraising and shares his thoughts on applying machine learning and AI at the intersection of biology. Finally, with a distributed team in both the US and Switzerland, he discusses the challenges that come with that, and how he approaches team building.

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Sekar Kathiresan is the Co-Founder, CEO and Board Member of Verve Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing gene editing medicines to treat patients with cardiovascular disease. Sekar discusses Verve’s work developing single-course, in vivo liver-directed gene editing medicines for patients with and at risk of cardiovascular disease and what the company pipeline looks like. He talks about the evolution of his pitch after years of experience with fundraising, how he approaches team building, and his perspective on why people are leaving academia for biotech. He also discusses what he’s learned about being a board member and what a good board for a pre-revenue biotech looks like.

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Harlan Robins, Ph.D., is the CSO and Co-Founder of Adaptive Biotechnologies, a pioneer and leader in immune-driven medicine that aims to improve people’s lives by learning from the wisdom of their adaptive immune systems. Adaptive’s proprietary immune profiling platform reveals and translates insights from our adaptive immune systems with unprecedented scale and precision. Harlan discusses how he navigated the ups and downs of co-founding a company. He talks about the adaptive immune system, why it’s important, and what Adaptive is currently working on from a development perspective. He also discusses Adaptive’s partnership with Genentech to create personalized cancer therapies.

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Dr. Paul Bolno is the President and CEO of Wave Life Sciences, a clinical-stage RNA medicines company committed to delivering life-changing treatments for people battling devastating diseases including Duchenne muscular dystrophy and Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. Paul discusses his early years at GSK and the events that led him to join Wave as CEO, and some of his early learnings during that transition from big pharma to a biotech. He also talks about the role and opportunity that RNA presents in medicine, where he sees RNA therapeutics going next, and what excites him about the emerging field of RNA editing.

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Garo Armen, Ph.D., is the Chairman and CEO of Agenus, an immuno-oncology company with the goal of treating cancers with novel combinations utilizing its unique portfolio of checkpoint antibodies, tumor microenvironment modifiers, vaccines and adjuvants. After receiving his Ph.D. in chemistry, Dr. Armen worked on Wall Street where he specialized in specialty pharmaceutical companies as well as biotech. Dr. Armen discusses how his personal history was a driving force behind founding Agenus, as well as his perspective on immunology and immunotherapy. He talks about Agenus’s approach to bringing curative therapies to cancer patients by harnessing the power of the immune system. He also discusses his approach to hiring, leveraging external providers and team building. 

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Craig Thompson is the CEO of Cerevance, a clinical-stage drug discovery and development company focused on developing novel therapeutics for central nervous system diseases. He discusses the arc of his career, beginning at big pharma at Merck and Pfizer before transitioning to biotech, and his learnings along the way. As CEO, he shares what he’s learned about developing a relationship with his board and the value they bring to his company. He also talks about the current CNS landscape, where Cerevance is from a development perspective, and the unique way the company approaches AI. 

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We recorded this episode in December 2022 with Florian Brand and Srinivas Rao, the Co-Founders and CEO & CSO, respectively, of atai Life Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company that leverages a decentralized platform approach to incubate and accelerate the development of highly effective mental health treatments that address the unmet needs of patients, including psychedelics and digital therapeutics. Florian and Srinivas provide an overview of the neuropsychiatry landscape, the history of psychedelics within mental health, and the role COVID played in increasing mental health awareness. They also discuss the model at atai around drug development and how they approach tackling such a massive unmet need. Finally, Florian talks about how self-awareness can lead to healthier habits and decision-making, and the importance of investing in therapy.

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