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On a special edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors deliver their takeaways from the debut Grand Rounds conference, which focused on whether biotech can write a more successful playbook for translating from target to product. Weaving together takeaways from the panels, fireside chat and keynote at the conference, the editors assess the tensions between generalizability and fit-for-purpose models, between having control and capturing complexity, and, in human data, between scale and robustness/reliability, particularly for longitudinal readouts. The editors also discuss BioCentury's Q&A with USC Keck School’s Patrick Lyden, who explained how high-quality, reproducible preclinical science can be feasible.
View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/653631
00:00 - Introduction
02:56 - Generalizability vs. Fit for Purpose
10:03 - Control vs. Complexity
17:57 - Scale vs. Robustness in Human Data
26:25 - Hypothesis-Driven vs. Unbiased Research
28:50 - Grand Rounds 2025
To submit a question to BioCentury’s editors, email the BioCentury This Week team at podcasts@biocentury.com.
On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors assess the shifting market for biotech IPOs, including the profiles of the three companies that went public on NASDAQ last week, the aftermarket performance of the year's IPO class, and the prospects for more companies to make their own debut in the coming months. BioCentury’s editors also discuss whether the rush to GLP-1s for obesity will mirror the development of PD-1s for cancer and the impact on biopharma of the recent mainstream expansion of AI. This episode of BioCentury This Week was sponsored by Parexel Biotech.
View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/653538
00:01 - Sponsor Message: Parexel Biotech
01:30 - IPOs
10:56 - GLP-1 & Obesity
22:18 - AI & Biotech
To submit a question to BioCentury’s editors, email the BioCentury This Week team at podcasts@biocentury.com.
Will bispecifics be the drugs to dethrone cancer’s biggest blockbusters? Akeso is the latest company with a bispecific to impress in a head-to-head study, this one for non-small cell lung cancer. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss the latest data from Akeso’s ivonescimab, a VEGFxPD-1 bispecific antibody that went up against Keytruda pembrolizumab in one of its largest indications, first-line non-small cell lung cancer.
The editors also discuss data from Vaxcyte that the infectious disease company parlayed into the year’s largest follow-on financing and a new initiative by FDA veteran Janet Woodcock to bolster quality in biopharmas’ manufacturing. This episode of BioCentury This Week was sponsored by Parexel Biotech.
View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/653507
00:01 - Sponsor Message: Parexel Biotech
01:39 - Akeso's Bispecific Challenge
08:22 - Vaxcyte Pneumococcal Vaccine
12:32 - Woodcock's Quality Initiative
14:48 - Recap: The BioCentury Show on Biosimilars
In this year’s series of Back to School essays, BioCentury’s editors ask whether the era of human first, causal biology and personalized medicine can reshape drug discovery to solve the weakest link in biotech — translation to the clinic. On a special edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast, the three authors of BioCentury’s 32nd Back to School edition, Editor in Chief Simone Fishburn, Executive Editor Selina Koch, and Executive Director of Biopharma Intelligence Lauren Martz, discuss how industry can solve its biggest bottleneck.
The editors zero in on inflammation and immunology, specifically how immunoproteomics upstage genomics in I&I target discovery, and neurology, notably how neuroscience companies are reducing to practice the concept of human-first discovery. Finally, they discuss the thread that runs through it all — precision medicine — and how biomarkers can help validate targets while bringing precision medicine to I&I and neurology.
View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/653485
00:00 - Introduction
01:32 - Introducing Back to School
10:42 - Validation Tools
14:50 - I&I
21:00 - Neurology
27:19 - Precision Medicine
A vote on the Biosecure Act in the U.S. House of Representatives early next week shines the spotlight back on legislation seeking to rein in Chinese CDMOs and genomics companies, as Congress returns to work. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors handicap the legislation’s chances of passage in the House and Senate and assess what’s at stake for the law authorizing rare pediatric disease priority review vouchers.
They also discuss the results of BioCentury’s snap poll gauging the biopharma industry’s reaction to the IRA Medicare drug price negotiation program, recalling the latest trends among pharma’s deals with biotechs over the past 12 months. Plus, a preview BioCentury’s annual Back to School package, next week’s new Grand Rounds R&D conference and highlights from this month’s Distillery roundup of translational papers.
View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/653385
00:00 - Introduction
01:36 - Biosecure on Deck
04:33 - Priority Review Vouchers
08:11 - BioCentury IRA Survey
17:07 - Back to School: Target Discovery
19:49 - Translational Highlights
Shaking up an underwhelming year for fresh biotech paper, a trio of biotechs filed to go public on NASDAQ last week. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss the IPO filings by MBX and Massachusetts companies Zenas and Bicara. Washington Editor Steve Usdin returns to the podcast to provide updates on the Inflation Reduction and Biosecure acts, as well as the life sciences policies of presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. And Director of Biopharma Intelligence Karen Tkach Tuzman zeroes in on the latest trends among pharma’s deals with biotechs over the past 12 months and the latest start-up out of Versant Ventures, Borealis.
View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/653354
00:00 - Introduction
01:48 - Biotech IPOs
12:48 - Washington Update
20:39 - Versant, Novartis Newco
24:34 - Pharma-Biotech Deal Trends
Grand Rounds is an R&D meeting that represents BioCentury’s latest initiative to create new networks linking academic discoveries with translational skills and the investors who will finance them, BioCentury co-founder, President and CEO David Flores said on a special edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast previewing the new conference. The meeting, on Sept. 9-11 in Nashville, focuses on whether biotech can write a more successful playbook for translating from target to product.
The podcast features three special guests who will be at the conference: McKinsey's Guang Yang, Candel Therapeutics' Paul Peter Tak, and Abby Trotter of Life Science Tennessee. There is still time to register for BioCentury Grand Rounds, which will take place Sept. 9-11 in Nashville. Network, partner and debate key bottlenecks in translation. See the conference website for more information.
View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/653324
00:00 - Introduction
00:13 - Spotlight Grand Rounds
02:03 - Conference Themes
08:40 - Nashville's Biotech Ecosystem
16:58 - Paul Peter Tak on I&I
25:22 - McKinsey Report Preview
The Biden administration has disclosed what Medicare will pay for the first graduates of its drug price negotiation program but biopharma companies, biotech investors and patient advocates are still waiting for the government to reveal how those prices were determined — details that are critical to informing the decisions that will shape the future of medicine. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss what last week’s disclosure tells us — and what information is yet to come.
They also discuss why psychedelics companies believe they can avoid the hurdles that tripped up Lykos Therapeutics as it sought approval of its MDMA program to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and preview this year’s BioCentury Back to School report, which focuses on whether biotech can write a more successful playbook for translating from target to product.
Take part in BioCentury’s Snap Survey on the IRA and Part D pricing. We’ll be publishing the results next week, which means we need your input now! All results will be anonymous.
View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/653298
00:00 - Intro
01:32 - Medicare Drug Pricing
11:38 - Psychedelic Setback
18:53 - Back to School Preview
Pharmaceutical companies and some investors may have once again become wary of gene therapy, but the modality’s future is bright, according to Jim Wilson. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss takeaways from BioCentury’s exclusive interview with the AAV trailblazer, including Wilson’s prediction that the benefits of the therapies will extend beyond rare genetic diseases, and the rationale for his new therapeutics company, Gemma Biotherapeutics.
BioCentury’s head of corporate alliances & business development, Josh Berlin, then joins the podcast team to detail the challenges and opportunities for biotech in South Korea, and to preview some of the highlights of the upcoming Grand Rounds conference. The event, BioCentury’s first R&D conference, takes place Sept. 9-11 in Nashville, Tenn. and tackles the roadblocks in the translation of science into new medicines.
View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/653239
00:00 - Intro
01:31 - Wilson’s Vision for Gene Therapy
14:23 - Inside Korea's Biotech
21:45 - BioCentury's Grand Rounds
A substantial part of the biopharma ecosystem involves deals between biotechs and academics, with smaller companies accessing assets to add to their pipelines and technologies to help solve problems. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss the interplay of biotech and academia, including how deals between the groups often come outside the hubs of Boston and the Bay Area and what types of indications and technologies are common focus points. They also discuss new data in Alzheimer’s for Leqembi from Eisai and Biogen that provide insight into how to get the most out of anti-amyloid mAbs for the disease, and what’s next for James Wilson now that the gene therapy pioneer is moving on from the University of Pennsylvania.
View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/653174
00:00 - Intro
04:25 - Biotech-Academia Deals
12:04 - Leqembi's Latest Data
19:20 - What's Next for James Wilson
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