Conversations in Healthcare

In this episode Mike Ward, Clarivate's Head of Thought Leadership for Life sciences and healthcare, spoke to Johnny Ohlson, Founder of Touchlight, a company who has developed a novel synthetic DNA vector. In recent years, we've seen that by harnessing the power of DNA, it has been possible to achieve success in treating previously incurable hereditary diseases and even tackle major pandemics. However, whether the answer is cell or gene therapies or RNA vaccines, one thing they all have in common is that they require DNA in some form or another as the starting material. Through Touchlight, Johnny Ohlson and his talented team have built a business that can make DNA at unprecedented speed, scale and purity. Johnny, a serial entrepreneur not originally from a biopharma background, shares with us his story of breaking successfully into a complex industry. This podcast demonstrates that innovation at its heart is more about a combination of vision, relationships and talented people rather than prior experience. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Ergomed founder Dr. Miroslav Reljanović talks to Mike Ward about how the COVID-19 pandemic has nudged clinical trials towards greater efficiency and inclusivity – and what's needed to make good on this promising trend. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward speaks with Dr. Grace Lomax, Clinical Director at Patient Connect, a part of Clarivate. Grace's experience as a physician highlighted numerous unmet needs beyond just clinical issues – especially around healthcare literacy, education at the point of care, adherence and more. She discusses how Patient Connect uses technology and communication strategies to inform and support patients at the point of care, and shares examples of campaigns that improved outcomes in cancer, hypertension, rare disease and asthma. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Matthew Arnold, Principal Analyst at Clarivate speaks with Dr. Kenton Johnston, Associate Professor of Health Management and Policy at Saint Louis University about disparities in the US health system. Matthew and Ken discuss both the historical context as well as the evolution of the system since the establishment of the Affordable Care Act, and how the entire spectrum of the healthcare system can work to address social determinants of health. Learn more in the full episode. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward speaks with Naveed Saddiqi, Senior Partner at Novo Ventures, one of the largest venture capital groups in the life sciences sector. Naveed shares about the firm's mandate to generate funds for the Novo Nordisk Foundation, how the pandemic impacted their investment strategy and what excites him most in the life sciences industry. Learn more in the full episode, which was recorded in collaboration with One Nucleus's ON Helix conference (June 2021). See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward speaks with Dr. Tim Guilliams, the co-founder and CEO of Healx. Healx is an artificial intelligence-powered technology company that's dedicated to helping rare disease patients access life improving treatments. Mike and Tim discuss the company's innovative approach to drug discovery, choosing which rare diseases to target and how patients are shaping their priorities. Learn more in the full episode, which was recorded in collaboration with One Nucleus's ON Helix conference (June 2021). See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward speaks with Richard Erwin, general manager and managing director of Roche Products Limited (UK), which was recorded in collaboration with One Nucleus's ON Helix conference (June 2021). Richard shares how the pandemic has shifted Roche's priorities and why the organization has heavily increased their investment in R&D. Learn more in the full episode. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward speaks with Oriol Serra, former Head of Site Intelligence and Selection at Pfizer and Simon Andrews, Vice President of RWD Engagements and Innovations at Clarivate about optimizing patient-first clinical trial design and ensuring trial groups align to real-life populations and needs. The group discusses the ins and outs to bring clinical trial management in-house, how to modernize trial designs with emerging data and intelligence, overcoming key challenges and advice for other pharma and biotechs looking to go down this path. Learn more in the full episode. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward speaks with Carolyn Hynes, Director of Regulatory Intelligence at AstraZeneca, and Céline Rodier, Senior Health Policy Manager at Clarivate, about strategies and tools to gather and assess regulatory intelligence, as well as KPIs and approaches to demonstrating ROI within your organization. Get actionable takeaways in the full episode. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Increased reliance on telehealth services has been one of the most significant care delivery shifts prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the pandemic has also thrown more light on the challenges of health inequity in the United States, especially among African American and Hispanic communities. We discuss these issues and potential solutions with leaders at the eHealth Initiative, Cigna and Henry Ford Health System. Panelists include:Wanneh Dixon, who is Director of Programs, Strategy & Development at eHealth Initiative Will M. Lopez, the National Medical Director-Virtual Care and Senior Medical Director-Behavioral Health at Cigna; and Denise White-Perkins, who is not only the Vice Chair of Academic Affairs, Associate Residency Program Director, Department of Family Medicine, and Director, Healthcare Equity Initiatives, Office of System Diversity Equity and Inclusion at Henry Ford Health System but is also Clinical Associate Professor, at Wayne State University School of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Head of Thought Leadership, Life Sciences and Healthcare at Clarivate, speaks with Dr. Toby Richardson, who is Head of Business Development and Licensing; Deputy Director of Business and Innovation at The Institute of Cancer Research. Mike and Toby discuss how research collaborations between the ICR and biopharma companies help the Institute achieve its mission to make the discoveries that defeat cancer. Learn more in the full episode. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Head of Thought Leadership, Life Sciences and Healthcare at Clarivate, speaks with Dr. Phil Clare, the Deputy Director, Research Services (Knowledge Exchange and Engagement) at the University of Oxford. Mike and Dr. Clare discuss the key role that university research plays in shaping new medicines and technologies, and what that process looks like. Learn more in the full episode. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Head of Thought Leadership, Life Sciences and Healthcare at Clarivate, speaks with Francesco De Rubertis, a co-founder and managing partner at Medicxi, one of the most prominent financial supporters of innovative biotech activity. Francesco provides insights into how the biotech venture capital model has evolved in the past decades to an asset-centric approach, and discusses Centessa, which recently secured $250m in funding. Learn more in the full episode. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Clarivate market experts break down the opportunities and potential threats for 2021's Drugs to Watch – the key drugs expected to be blockbusters by 2026. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG, part of Clarivate, speaks with Dr. Caroline Loew, President and CEO from Glympse Bio. They discuss the biotech's focus on both disease detection and response to treatment using bioengineered sensors, starting with NASH. Dr. Loew also shares career advice for moving from pharma to biotech and how she pivoted the company's narrative during a funding round at the bottom of the pandemic-related stock market crash. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG, part of Clarivate, speaks with Dr. Leen Kawas, president and CEO of Athira Pharma. Dr. Kawas shares the company's innovative approach to treating Alzheimer's disease by developing small molecules to restore neuronal health and stop neurodegeneration. They also discuss Athira's recent IPO following a successful series B funding round, all during the pandemic.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG, part of Clarivate, speaks with Bryan Witherbee, President & CEO of Adarza BioSystems. Earlier this year, Adarza raised 25 million dollars to support the full commercialization of Ziva, an automated biological platform which delivers comprehensive, high definition, protein biomarker profiles. Although their launch plans were disrupted by the pandemic, Bryan shares how Adarza responded to the challenge by utilizing Ziva for COVID-19 research. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG, part of Clarivate, speaks with Brian Culley, CEO of Lineage Cell Therapeutics. Brian and Mike discuss the company's cell therapy program, utilizing pluripotent stem cells, initially targeting dry age-related macular degeneration, acute spinal cord injuries, and non-small cell lung cancer. Brian shares about the status of their Phase 1/2a clinical trials, and how COVID-19 has affected the company's operations. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG, part of Clarivate, speaks with Jonathan Javitt, CEO of NeuroRx. Dr Javitt discusses how NeuroRx is working in collaboration with Relief Therapeutics on Aviptadil, a synthetic version of vasoactive intestinal peptide, and a potential treatment of COVID-19 related respiratory failure. Dr. Javitt shares the promising results of an open label study of the drug, and the company's plans if trials are successful. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership talks to Gil Van Bokkelen, founder, chairman and CEO of Athersys Inc. They discuss the company's clinical program that is focusing on a special class of stem cells which display very unique properties and have been obtained from healthy young consenting donors. Mike and Gil talk about how Athersys was already working on an approach to treat patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome before the pandemic emerged and the challenges they face to tackle their COVID-19 strategy. Also, Gil shares how Athersys was successful in raising nearly $58m in April and what he thinks the company needs to do to become a multibillion-dollar company. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG, speaks with Stephen Russell, CEO of Vyriad. Dr. Russell reveals invaluable insights for those looking for or currently putting together partnership deals. Stephen shares his journey from academia at the Mayo Clinic to founding Vyriad, and eventually partnering with Regeneron for the development of new oncolytic virus treatments for cancer. Learn how Vyriad pivoted their technology to develop antibody tests for COVID-19 during the crisis. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG, speaks with Alison Kneen, Senior Vice President, Global Market Access and Head of the Centre of Innovation and Regulatory Science (CIRS) and DRG Abacus. Learn why early and thorough planning is so important for a successful product launch, and how Alison and her team helped one client avoid major pitfalls, even when the odds were stacked against them. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this fireside chat brought to you by Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG talks to Nick McCooke, CEO of Longas Technologies. Having been at the forefront of developing next generation sequencing, Nick talks to Mike about his past work, current projects and future predictions for this key technology in the life sciences space. He explains the process and journey he went on to trigger the creation of Solexa, which was later acquired by Illumina, and how next generation sequencing developed and transformed the marketplace after this acquisition. Nick also explains the role NGS has played in the development of Covid-19 solutions around the world, including mapping the viral genome and tracking subsequent mutations. They go onto the discuss the long-read sequencing platform Longas Technologies is currently working on and how this could advance NGS even. Nick also gives his predictions on where NGS could go next, and how it'll continue to develop and benefit the patient. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this fireside chat brought to you by Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG, Part of Clarivate talks to Bob Coughlin, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. Bob provides insights from what is unarguably the world's number one biopharma hotspot. Bob and Mike discuss how the industry has collaborated to counter the most immediate issues the COVID-19 pandemic has raised and how these could inform the future of biopharma. Bob also talks passionately about how partnering with patient groups is key to patient centricity to truly understand the real unmet patient need.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this fireside chat brought to you by Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG, talks to Mike Hughes, Senior Director of Epidemiology at DRG. With epidemiology entering our daily vernacular, thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, Mike gives a definition of what it is, the approaches used to model epidemiology associated with diseases and how it's beneficial across all stages of research and development in pharma. In particular, they talk about the value epidemiology can bring to decision making and how it can aid in maximizing R&D efforts and investment decisions surrounding pipeline development and go to market plans. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this fireside chat brought to you by Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG talks to Sir Mene Pangalos, Executive Vice President at AstraZeneca. Sir Mene talks to Mike about AstraZeneca's learnings from helping Chinese colleagues combat Coronavirus at the end of 2019, and then expanding input as it became a global issue. This includes adapting existing molecules in their pipeline, utilizing their existing capabilities and keeping their supply chain moving. He also explains how the industry has come together like never before to collaborate and share ideas across the board. Sir Mene and Mike also discuss what the new normal for the pharma industry may look like in a post-pandemic world. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG, talks to Dr Srikanth Rajagopal (or Doc, as he is fondly referred to). Doc, a partner at DRG Consulting, whose areas of expertise include product and portfolio strategy to name a few, chatted to us about common strategic challenges biotechnology companies face during the process of translating a discovery into a tangible medicine. Doc gives invaluable insight for bio-pharma companies who are making development and/or commercializing decisions for their clinical programs both for those developing in house and those considering out licensing. He explores pertinent examples of how companies can go about understanding the commercial opportunity of their efficacious treatments in various scenarios and markets (including orphan indications) and discusses what he calls the 'magic triangle' to get an asset to market as fast as possible. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this fireside chat brought to you by Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG, talks to Houman Ashrafian, Managing Partner at SV Health Investors. Houman gives an interesting perspective into how and why biotech investment has remained robust throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. He talks to Mike about his proven track record for establishing companies and the factors he looks for when identifying interesting, investable science. Houman also talks about his work on the Dementia Discovery Fund investment committee, the opportunities they look for as well as the lessons the industry can learn from the immune-oncology revolution and how these can be applied to combat other diseases including neurodegenerative conditions, such as dementia. Houman is optimistic about where the UK is in terms of developing sciences, and what we'll be able to achieve in this unprecedented time of science innovation. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this fireside chat brought to you by Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG talks to Joe Panetta, President and CEO of BIOCOM. Joe talks around how BIOCOM has worked closely with government officials to ensure the life science community can continue to function throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they've worked with these officials to develop guidance for this community on how they can safely return to work. Joe discusses how COVID-19 has affected funding for biotech companies, the ability to build international relationships with global companies and how new digital practices such as virtual partnering could be a new way of developing these relationships post-pandemic. He also passionately describes how the industry needs to become more patient centric, as it has with COVID-19.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this fireside chat brought to you by Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG talks to Charlotte Allen and Russ Bradford from Parkinson's Concierge. Russ and Charlotte offer a unique insight into how being a patient centric organisation enables them to help the Parkinson's Disease community improve their quality of life and understanding of the disease. They talk about the work they're currently doing to educate the community and their newest partnership with ReMeLife to expand their network globally. As the disease affects each patient differently, they work to raise awareness to organizations working on treating Parkinson's about the importance of working with patient groups to better understand how to treat the disease. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership talks to Bill Newell, CEO of Sutro Biopharma. Bill shared his views on the fundamental importance of ensuring patients, especially cancer patients, receive their treatment (as scheduled) despite pandemic related delays. He explained how they were uniquely positioned to continue trials and initial new ones safely and with minimal interruption due in large part to their onsite manufacturing facilities. Mike and Bill talked about how Sutro Biopharma successfully raised $98 million in a public offering through zoom calls which pre-pandemic would have been unheard of! They also explored the interesting dynamic they recently found themselves in when one of their major partners was acquired by another.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this fireside chat brought to you by Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG talks to Hakan Goker, Vice President of M Ventures. Hakan gives a unique insight into how both COVID-19 and Brexit are affecting current investment opportunities for both investors and start-ups, including restrictions on travel, face to face pitching and pipeline requirements. He talks about the increasing importance on making sure all written communications and presentations are clear and sharp in this era to help executives secure and access finance, as well as patience while VC's focus on existing partnerships. Hakan also gives an overview of the benefits of work with corporate VC's, such as M Ventures, and how they minimize cross-contamination with the biotech and their pharma company. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this fireside chat brought to you by Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG talks to Seth Lederman, co-founder, CEO and chairman of Tonix Pharmaceuticals. Seth and Mike explored the two programs Tonix are currently developing in pain and psychiatry, areas where many larger companies have turned their back due to subjective endpoints. Tonix believes they have developed invaluable expertise to counter these challenges and Seth explains that the difficulty of the endpoints, will be compensated by the importance of bringing new medicines to market that will be significant to the pharmacopeia. Tonix is also working on a vaccine candidate for COVID-19 that is one of only a handful which is a live replicating virus vector platform. Seth discussed what the vaccine landscape might look like once COVID vaccines come to market and the adoption challenges we may face as a society. Seth also touched on the trend currently in the industry of biotechnology companies choosing to commercialise their products, how Tonix intend to do just this and discusses how technology has eroded big pharma's advantage in this area. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this fireside chat brought to you by Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG talks to Sanjay Kakkar, CEO of San Francisco Bay-based start-up Tranquis Therapeutics. The company focuses on neurodegenerative diseases, an area where significant unmet medical need remains and that has presented the life sciences sector with major challenges for many years. Undaunted, Tranquis Therapeutics has successfully raised $30m in series A for their lead compound. In this interview Sanjay shares the milestones involved in both the development of their compelling compounds that are set to revolutionise the space, as well as the areas that attracted and intrigued their supportive investors. Mike and Sanjay also look to the future and touch on upcoming milestones such as clinical trials and possible commercialisation partnerships. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In response to the pandemic, governments around the world have instituted policy changes intended to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus that could have long-lasting impacts. In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership talks to DRG market access experts Steve Edgar and Judith Rubinstein about how new policies are reshaping supply chains, testing, development, approval and care delivery – and what it means for life sciences executives. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this fireside chat brought to you by Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG talks to Eric Elenko, Chief Innovation Officer of PureTech. Eric provides a unique insight into how they use a problem centric approach to identify and build out treatment programs, both internally and through their own founded entities. Eric also explains how this model has inspired them to repurpose one of their existing programs, LYT-100, to help solve the issue of pulmonary complications in recovering COVID-19 patients. He also talks about the affect social distancing has had on the industry, stating his expectation that telemedicine and digital health is here to stay and will gather momentum going forward. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this fireside chat brought to you by Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG talks to Mark Stevenson, Vice President and Chief Operations Officer at Thermo Fisher Scientific. Mark talks to Mike about day-to-day pandemic effects on operations and priorities, and how they have redistributed resources to help combat impact and maintain longer-term business focus. He also explores how he feels the pandemic will change supply chains moving forward, as well as the life science ecosystem in general. Mark goes on to discuss exciting new developments for his company, including their bid to acquire Qjagen, drug discovery tools and innovation across the life sciences industry. Mark explains how important it is to work with other innovators in the industry and the growing clusters of innovators to look out for across the globe. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this fireside chat brought to you by Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG talks to Daphne Zohar, Founder and CEO of PureTech. Daphne sheds light on how their unique and innovative business model looks to solve unmet needs and problem areas across the industry, how they differ from your typical biotech and the benefit of their problem centric approach. She explores how they're constantly innovating their internal pipeline and adapting to the needs of the market, such as using LYT-100, an existing program, to treat post-recovery complications from COVID-19. Daphne also shares her excitement at how the industry is becoming more open to new ideas and new models for developing medicines.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership talks to Christian Hogg, Executive Director and CEO of Chi-Med, about how the pharmaceutical and biotech industry in China has shifted its priorities from generic medicines to more innovative therapies. Christian talks in depth around the driving factors and investment in innovation, including a reform of the regulatory environment and the vast expansion of access to patients. He also gives his take on why he believes some multi-national companies prosper, and why some fail, when trying to enter the Chinese biotech and pharmaceutical markets, and what they can do to make the most of the growing opportunities within this market. They finish by discussing the possibility that one day China will overtake the US to become the biggest pharmaceutical market in the world. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this fireside chat brought to you by Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG talks to Richard Erwin, General Manager and Managing Director of Roche Products Ltd (UK). Mike and Richard discuss what companies can learn from the pandemic and if the business world will operate the same way as before. Richard shared how they sped up their clinical trial lead time, from initial discussions through to first patient, to under a month (normally this could take a year)! Richard also talks about the new ways of doing things in healthcare such as telephone calls with patients. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this fireside chat brought to you by Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG talks to Baroness Susan Greenfield, founder and CEO of Oxford-based start-up Neuro-bio. Susan and Mike discuss the impacts of COVID-19 in the workplace and how the new stay-at-home policy has put a pause on projects. As a member of the House of Lords, Susan was also able to explore and share her views on the dynamics between politicians and science. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership talks to John Jaeger, a partner at DRG on how COVID-19 is disrupting access to care. John talks us through the results from a recent physician survey, about current limitations on access to treatment including how patients are responding to the shift from in-facility treatment to home-administered treatments. John and Mike also discuss the implications of the “warehousing” effect that will take place and continue to disrupt the space caused by patients waiting to receive care or delaying treatment until the pandemic eases. They also speculate which of these changes may become permanent fixtures post pandemic. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership talks to Steve Fruchtman, President and CEO of Onconova Therapeutics Inc, about how the reallocation of resources within cancer centres around the world due to COVID-19. Steve talked us through the impacts on their early and late stage lead programs which includes short term restrictions such as accessing review data, as well as longer-term impacts including additional monitoring and testing for patients on haematology and oncology trials. Steve gives an insight into how they're preparing for commercialization of their therapies within China, the affect COVID-19 has had on these partnerships, and how regulatory restrictions and language barriers can present a challenge in this area. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG talks to Dr. RJ Tesi, CEO of INmune Bio about its clinical program that seeks to determine whether its existing TNF inhibitors can be repurposed to prevents complications of cytokine storm caused by COVID-19. Dr. Tesi gives solemn insight into trial design, endpoint selection, FDA application as well explaining how INmune is “messing” with the pathology of COVID-19, not only to treat its symptoms but to treat the disease itself. Dr. Tesi takes us through the evolving landscape of secondary complications caused by COVID-19 and leaves us with the anecdote that many in the industry are beginning to understand; “to know COVID-19 is to know medicine." See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward talks to Werner Lanthaler, CEO of Evotec, about how COVID-19 is bringing pharma leaders together and giving them collaborative momentum. Dr. Lanthaler is a co-founding member of COVID R&D, a global pharma industry initiative that has come together to rapidly respond to the pandemic. Together they are fast-tracking learnings and protocols to create a toolbox that can accelerate activities like clinical trials, re-purposing compounds and data sharing to address the crisis faster. COVID-19 has brought barriers down and truly brought the healthcare industry together, but could this forced synergy and learning be used to accelerate treatment creation in the future? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership talks to Christian Hogg, CEO of Hutchison China MediTech about how the organisation has tackled the impacts of COVID-19 on business globally. Christian gives us a month-by-month account from January to May of how they mitigated disruption and moved to a place of “new normal”, most notably within business activities related to commercial operations and getting vital medication to patients on clinical trials. With China slightly ahead of the pandemic curve from a timing perspective, what takeaways can the rest of the world utilise to ensure quicker recovery to the business of healthcare? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership talks to Dana Gheorghe, Ph.D, Associate Director, Oncology, about the impact COVID-19 is having on treatment for already available CAR T-cell therapies as well as those being developed. Dana gives us the lay of the land in an area where there is scarcity of information that is frequently changing. Dana covers how patients are being prioritised according to risk and need at this time and the challenges of getting high risk patient profiles much needed treatments. She also discusses the various country and region-specific conditions that are being put in place to allow treatment and trials to continue, however, many existing trials and read outs have been delayed despite and new trials completely suspended. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership speaks with Bryan Witherbee, President & CEO of Adarza BioSystems. Earlier this year, Adarza raised 25 million dollars to support the full commercialization of Ziva, an automated biological platform which delivers comprehensive, high definition, protein biomarker profiles. Although their launch plans were disrupted by the pandemic, Bryan shares how Adarza responded to the challenge by utilizing Ziva for COVID-19 research. Learn more in the full episode. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.