Podcasts about versant ventures

Good morning from Pharma and Biotech daily: the podcast that gives you only what's important to hear in Pharma and Biotech world. Neurocrine has secured sole rights to a potentially first-in-class depression drug called Osavampator from Takeda. Little information has been released about the drug since its promising phase II performance last spring. Meanwhile, Novavax CEO John Jacobs discusses the company's progress after layoffs, pipeline reorganizations, FDA delays, and clinical holds. Additionally, Versant Ventures has launched a new obesity startup called Helicore with a focus on improving weight loss quality. Atai has reported positive data for psychedelic therapy in alcohol use disorder, following FDA approval of J&J's esketamine nasal spray for treatment-resistant depression. Other news includes AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo expanding their ADC collaboration, Metsera seeking a $289 million IPO, Pfizer receiving a breather from Starboard's assault, and more updates in the biotech industry.

In the week since Donald Trump took office, he's caused quite the stir with healthcare-centered moves that include ordering the Department of Health and Human Services to stop communications, hiring and travel and announcing that he would withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organization. Wednesday, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee convenes to vote on the controversial nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for health secretary—a vote that Jefferies analysts said they expect to be “close.” Biogen continues to grab headlines this month, as the latest chapter in the Sage saga saw the smaller biotech rejecting its neuro partner's unsolicited buyout offer. Meanwhile, Biogen laid off an undisclosed number of employees from its research unit, just as a higher dose of its Ionis-partnered spinal muscular atrophy therapy Spinraza was accepted for review by both the FDA and EMA. Elsewhere, the weight loss space continues to click on all cylinders, with Versant Ventures debuting its newest obesity biotech Helicore Biopharma on Tuesday with $65 million in series A funds, and two obesity-focused companies, Aardvark Therapeutics and Metsera, seeking entry to the public markets. These up-and-comers will have to compete against the likes of Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, the latter of which reported data last week showing that its next-gen obesity drug amycretin could elicit up to 22% weight-loss. And Veru announced that its enobosarm could significantly improve the quality of weight loss in seniors also taking Novo's Wegovy. Another busy therapeutic space is Duchenne muscular dystrophy, where analysts predict a lot of action in the next couple of years, with a number of data readouts and regulatory submissions. And finally, Annalee Armstrong caught up at JPM with Novavax CEO John Jacobs, who said the vaccine maker is at a pivot point.

We're in Basel

Gene editing startup Tome Biosciences is laying off nearly its entire workforce, as biopharma companies continue to face challenges in the current market. Meanwhile, Bayer, which cut 1,500 jobs in May, is parting with another 150 in Basel, Switzerland. On the other side of the spectrum, two new companies debuted last week. Novartis and Versant Ventures launched Borealis Biosciences to develop RNA medicines for kidney diseases, and BridgeBio spawned GondolaBio to focus on therapies for genetic and rare diseases. In Q2, biopharma VC funding reached its highest quarterly level since the same quarter in 2022, according to PitchBook. Separately, U.S.-China biopharma relations are making headlines again, with a House committe writing to the FDA comissioner about U.S. companies working with the Chinese military on potentially unethical clinical trials. And in case you missed it, a special edition of ClinicaSpace this week focuses on the obesity and diabetes space—a combined market that is expected to exceed $200 billion within the next decade.

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/65335400:00 - Introduction01:48 - Biotech IPOs12:48 - Washington Update20:39 - Versant, Novartis Newco24:34 - Pharma-Biotech Deal Trends

Synopsis: Bobak Azamian, MD, Ph.D., is the CEO and Chairman of Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company that applies proven science and new technology to revolutionize treatment for patients, starting with eye care. Bobby talks about his early years working in the venture capital space before founding his first company. He shares what it's like running a publicly traded biotech for the first time and the evolution of his role over the years at Tarsus. He shares his viewpoint on unmet needs and the importance of having a true focus on what's really happening to the patient. He talks about future indications they're pursuing at the company and how he leverages learnings from the first programs they ran to what's coming up next. Finally, he discusses the company's decision to commercialize in-house versus with a partner and the challenges of taking the company public during the pandemic in 2020. Biography: Bobby cofounded Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. with Michael Ackermann in November 2016 and has served as its President and CEO since September 2018. He has served as the company's Chairman since December 2022. Since its founding, Tarsus has established a leading team and culture and has completed successful fundraising efforts through multiple private and public financings and global partnerships. Tarsus recently secured FDA approval for its first product, XDEMVY™ (lotilaner ophthalmic solution) 0.25%, which is the first and only FDA-approved treatment in the United States for the eyelid disease Demodex blepharitis. Beyond XDEMVY, Tarsus continues to advance its pipeline into Phase 2 clinical studies evaluating therapies that have the potential to create new categories to treat other major diseases, including meibomian gland disease, rosacea, and Lyme disease prevention. Bobby has cofounded and led other novel therapeutics companies, including Vibrato Medical and Metavention, and currently serves on the board of Vibrato Medical and as Chairman of the board of Osanni Bio. Bobby began his biotechnology career at Versant Ventures and Third Rock Ventures, where he was an investor and board observer for a variety of life sciences companies. He also served on the board of the nonprofit organization Octane. Bobby trained as a physician scientist, completing his residency in internal medicine and serving as an attending hospitalist at Brigham and Women's Hospital. He received an MD from Harvard Medical School (Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology), a PhD in chemistry from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and a BA in physics from Rice University. He is also an author of numerous patents and peer-reviewed publications. Bobby enjoys sports, travel, arts and culture, and spending time in Newport Beach with his newborn son, wife, and dog.

Aziz Mottiwala, Chief Commercial Officer of Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, says the company looks for honest unmet needs when deciding what targets to explore. It also looks for opportunities to be the first or the best.The company may meet both objectives with TP-03, an antiparasitic agent developed to treat Demodex blepharitis, among other conditions.Mottiwala describes lotilaner, the molecule behind TP-03 and other Tarsus therapies, as a “pipeline in a molecule.” The company is evaluating formulations of lotilaner for the treatment of Lyme disease and rosacea as well as Demodex blepharitis.With podcast host Carey Powers, Mottiwala and Bill Link, PhD, Managing Director of Versant Ventures and leader of the firm's ophthalmology venture category, discuss how to execute successful direct-to-consumer campaigns, including the “eyelid check” campaign for Demodex blepharitis.They also discuss the investment outlook for eye care. With funding harder to come by, start-ups may want to take note of how Dr. Link evaluates companies, which he discusses in this episode. Hint: strong science and a solid business plan are not enough.Listen to the podcast today to discover:The five categories Dr. Link uses to evaluate an eye care company.Whether AI-based technologies are an attractive investment.How Tarsus evaluates opportunities in the pipeline.The Tarsus approach to DTC for TP-03 and why patients aren't the initial focus.How 2023 is shaping up for investment and access to capital.Innovation Mottiwala is excited about and how Tarsus may integrate new technology into their commercial activities.How technology is impacting how Tarsus builds its organization.[Listen Now]ResourcesDemodex blepharitis campaign: https://eyelidcheck.comBill Link: https://www.versantventures.com/team/bill-link-phdAziz Mottiwala: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azizmottiwalaCarey Powers:  https://ois.net/carey-powers

While the public biotech markets remain volatile, VCs continue to raise new funds. Are we witnessing a renaissance in the private capital markets? The bankruptcy rate of biotechs is historically among the lowest of US publicly traded companies, however, companies are failing and there is still a widely held belief that too many biotech companies are in existence today. What are the hallmarks of companies that will not make it, and when does it make sense to ‘call it' or divest?In this episode of Pathfinders in Biopharma, hear from Jerel Davis, Managing Director at Versant Ventures, Otello Stampacchia, Founder & Managing Director at Omega Funds, Simeon George, CEO & Managing Partner at SR One and RBC's Noël Brown, Head of US Biotechnology Investment Banking, for a roundtable discussion on navigating the path to growth.

The healthcare industry is facing a lot of challenges, like physician burnout, the high cost of care, a lack of insurance coverage, staffing problems, and a lack of adequate interactions between patients and providers, just to name a few. With the loads of technology and applications available, many providers still use fax machines as a mode of communication, making patient access to specialty care difficult and increasing the risk of compromising security. How can this problem be eradicated to increase first response, improve care transitions, and speed up the adoption of e-consults?In this new episode of Highway to Health, a podcast by MarketScale, host David Kemp chatted with Brooke LeVasseur, the CEO of AristaMD, the best person to provide insight into these questions and talk about the delivery of e-consults for patients and providers.At the start of the episode, Kemp asked LeVasseur about the habits she has adopted to maintain her physical and mental stability:"For me, and I've struggled with this my whole life, every year I recommit to improving my sleep. Sleep is like the number one building block, and that's an ongoing struggle for me, but I try to setup good routines for myself so that I'm getting solid, uninterrupted sleep. For stress relief, I'm really into athletic activities. I try to be outside, take walks, and my whole family is into surfing... I can't get started until I get some sweat on, and that helps me stay sane and focused—it's a lot of great benefit," LeVasseur said.Kemp and LeVasseur's conversation included the following:• Health equity• E-consults: Other technologies patients can use other than a FaceTime experience• What goes into care coordination and communication between PCPs and specialists• Who has the biggest lever that could be used to speed up the adoption of digital platforms that improve outcomes. "I think the technologies that have been effective in helping that problem are those that let physicians do what they are meant to do, which is treat patients and get more face-to-face patient time. Arista is focused on how we can get providers to not only do what they are trained to do but really to let everyone in the healthcare system operate at the top of their license, and sometimes you can best do that by giving them technology tools so that they are handling the most complex, acute cases that are appropriate for their licensure," LeVasseur explained."Health equity really requires everyone to have access to affordable care and that they can get to that care in a timely fashion. If you are far away from providers, it's a challenge for anyone living in those remote districts, but surprisingly, folks have huge access problems that lead to inequity in urban settings. Sometimes the barrier isn't your location; it might be your health insurance. We see tons of Medicaid patients struggling to get care because specialists won't see Medicaid patients," she added.Brooke LeVasseur is the CEO of AristaMD and has 20 years of leadership experience launching new, innovative healthcare products and solutions for payers and providers, including software and e-consult solutions. Throughout her career, LeVasseur has worked with numerous startups in a variety of capacities, including corporate and commercial strategy, marketing, and new business creation. She brings a wealth of experience drawn from executive roles at Thomson Reuters, Veracyte, and Sequenom, as well as an array of consultant roles at industry-leading investment and healthcare companies such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Versant Ventures, Illumina, Cypher Genomics, and GRAIL. She has led teams to successfully commercialize new, innovative healthcare tools and gain widespread clinician adoption and reimbursement. She holds a degree in English from Stanford University.

The healthcare industry is facing a lot of challenges, like physician burnout, the high cost of care, a lack of insurance coverage, staffing problems, and a lack of adequate interactions between patients and providers, just to name a few. With the loads of technology and applications available, many providers still use fax machines as a mode of communication, making patient access to specialty care difficult and increasing the risk of compromising security. How can this problem be eradicated to increase first response, improve care transitions, and speed up the adoption of e-consults?In this new episode of Highway to Health, a podcast by MarketScale, host David Kemp chatted with Brooke LeVasseur, the CEO of AristaMD, the best person to provide insight into these questions and talk about the delivery of e-consults for patients and providers.At the start of the episode, Kemp asked LeVasseur about the habits she has adopted to maintain her physical and mental stability:"For me, and I've struggled with this my whole life, every year I recommit to improving my sleep. Sleep is like the number one building block, and that's an ongoing struggle for me, but I try to setup good routines for myself so that I'm getting solid, uninterrupted sleep. For stress relief, I'm really into athletic activities. I try to be outside, take walks, and my whole family is into surfing... I can't get started until I get some sweat on, and that helps me stay sane and focused—it's a lot of great benefit," LeVasseur said.Kemp and LeVasseur's conversation included the following:• Health equity• E-consults: Other technologies patients can use other than a FaceTime experience• What goes into care coordination and communication between PCPs and specialists• Who has the biggest lever that could be used to speed up the adoption of digital platforms that improve outcomes. "I think the technologies that have been effective in helping that problem are those that let physicians do what they are meant to do, which is treat patients and get more face-to-face patient time. Arista is focused on how we can get providers to not only do what they are trained to do but really to let everyone in the healthcare system operate at the top of their license, and sometimes you can best do that by giving them technology tools so that they are handling the most complex, acute cases that are appropriate for their licensure," LeVasseur explained."Health equity really requires everyone to have access to affordable care and that they can get to that care in a timely fashion. If you are far away from providers, it's a challenge for anyone living in those remote districts, but surprisingly, folks have huge access problems that lead to inequity in urban settings. Sometimes the barrier isn't your location; it might be your health insurance. We see tons of Medicaid patients struggling to get care because specialists won't see Medicaid patients," she added.Brooke LeVasseur is the CEO of AristaMD and has 20 years of leadership experience launching new, innovative healthcare products and solutions for payers and providers, including software and e-consult solutions. Throughout her career, LeVasseur has worked with numerous startups in a variety of capacities, including corporate and commercial strategy, marketing, and new business creation. She brings a wealth of experience drawn from executive roles at Thomson Reuters, Veracyte, and Sequenom, as well as an array of consultant roles at industry-leading investment and healthcare companies such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Versant Ventures, Illumina, Cypher Genomics, and GRAIL. She has led teams to successfully commercialize new, innovative healthcare tools and gain widespread clinician adoption and reimbursement. She holds a degree in English from Stanford University.

Hosts Jim Mazzo and John A. Hovanesian, MD, FACS, chat with Richard L. Lindstrom, MD, about the latest news and trends, as well as his career and his advice for residents and entrepreneurs in the field of ophthalmology.        Welcome to the Eyeluminaries podcast :00        OTF Meeting 01:41        Gezundheit award – Iheezo (chloroprocaine hydrochloride ophthalmic gel) 4:04        Name stolen from a birthday party magician award – Vabysmo (faricimab-svoa) 4:42        The incomplete sentence award – Iyuzeh (latanoprost ophthalmic solution) 5:21        Big improvement on the generic name award – Zimura (avacincaptad pegol) 6:24        Best of the year award – Pegcetacoplan 6:49        Near miss award – Beovu (brolucizumab) 8:08        Awful award – Byooviz (ranibizumab-nuna) 8:45        Guest welcome 9:40        Richard L. Lindstrom, MD, introduction 10:31        FDA grants fast track designation for retinitis pigmentosa treatment 10:36        EyeArt AI system approved in EU for detecting AMD, glaucomatous optic nerve damage 13:14        Amazon launches discount prescription drug service 17:46        Interview with Lindstrom 21:42        What is the biggest innovation in ophthalmology in your career? 22:40        What is coming in the next 10 years? 25:24        What is out there that will get in the way of innovation? 26:54        What advice would you give to residents? 28:35        What advice would you give to entrepreneurs? 30:16        What story can you share about one historical figure in ophthalmology? 31:59        Wrap up and a preview of episode 13, guest David Endicot, Alcon CEO 35:14        Feedback, questions and guest suggestions at eyeluminaries@healio.com 36:29        Thanks for listening 36:53 John A. Hovanesian, MD, FACS, is a faculty member at the UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute and in private practice at Harvard Eye Associates in Laguna Hills, California. Jim Mazzo sits on numerous ophthalmic industry corporate boards and committees after serving in executive roles with Allergan, Avellino Labs, Carl Zeiss and AMO. Richard L. Lindstrom, MD, is the founder and an Attending Surgeon at Minnesota Eye Consultants and an Adjunct Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota, Department of Ophthalmology. He is a board-certified Ophthalmologist and an internationally recognized leader in corneal, cataract, refractive and laser surgery. We'd love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to eyeluminaries@healio.com. Follow John Hovanesian on Twitter @DrHovanesian. Disclosures: Hovanesian consults widely in the ophthalmic field. Mazzo reports being an adviser for Zeiss, Bain Capital, Avellino Labs, CVC Capital, Anivive Lifesciences; executive chairman of Neurotech, Preceyes BV and TearLab; and sits on the board of Crystilex, Lensgen, IanTech, Centricity Vision and Visus. Lindstrom reports consulting with AcuFocus, Alcon, Allergan, Bausch + Lomb, Combangio, CorneaGen, Equinox, Eyevance/Santen, Flying L Partners, Harrow Health, J&J Vision, Lensar, Lentechs, MDbackline, Novartis, Orasis, Schroeder Vision Life Sciences, Sun, Surface, Versant Ventures, Visionary Ventures and Zeiss; holds stocks with Acquea, AcuFocus, Combangio, CorneaGen, Equinox, Flying L Investments, ForSight, Harrow Health, Lensar, Lentechs, MDbackline, Ocular Therapeutix, Orasis, Sight4All, Surface, TearClear, TearLab, TherOptix, Unifeye Vision Partners and Visionary Ventures; board chairman of Surface; sits on the board of Acquea, AcuFocus, Combangio, CorneaGen, Equinox, ForSight, Harrow Health, Lensar, Lentechs, MDbackline, Ocular Therapeutix, Sight4All, TearLab, TherOptix and Unifeye Vision Partners; board observer of TearClear; receives compensation from Ocular Therapeutix; member of the investment committee of Flying L Investments and Visionary Ventures; and a medical advisory board member of Acquea, Foresight, Harrow Health, Ocular Therapeutix, Sight4All, TearClear and TearLab.

Our seventh episode features Dr. Carlo Rizzuto, Managing Director at Versant Ventures. He joined the firm as a Principal in 2012 and has been promoted to Managing Director in 2022, where he is still involved in building and investing in a number of Versant's portfolio companies. Prior to Versant Ventures, Dr. Rizzuto was at Novartis where he led global product development teams advancing innovative new medicine, and was an Associate Principal at McKinsey & Co. advising U.S. and European clients in the pharmaceutical, payor, and provider sectors. Dr. Rizzuto holds a Ph.D. in virology from Harvard University.In this episode we discuss with Dr. Rizzuto his career journey, highlighting the several skills and tools he honed along the way. We learn which skills are essential to be a good investor and founder, how to manage an intensive schedule with long days, and how outstanding technology can be transferred from an academic bench to a biotechnology startup.Versant Ventures is a venture capital company focused on biotech startups. This firm has a broad, diverse portfolio with successful stories of investment in biotech startups in the US, Canada, and Europe, in gene therapy, gene editing, cell therapy, and precision oncology.

In this episode, we revisit our conversation with Ross Jaffe, MD. Ross is an experienced healthcare venture capitalist, and Ross is one of the founding Managing Directors of Versant Ventures. He now serves as a Venture Advisor to New Enterprise Associates (NEA) while completing his Versant responsibilities. Ross has been recognized on the Forbes Midas List of leading venture capitalists. Ross has a BA from Dartmouth, an MD from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

If it hasn't happened yet, just wait: the day will come when you have to use a larger font on the computer or hold the phone farther away to read a message. That frustrating condition, presbyopia, is a $3-5 billion market with limited non-surgical treatment options. LENZ Therapeutics is one company on a path to change that.In this podcast, president and CEO Eef Schimmelpennink speaks with host Ehsan Sadri, MD, about the progress of the company's lead program, aceclidine. The drop is designed to restore loss of near vision without triggering ciliary muscles, and it produced promising Phase II data.As the company moves toward Phase III clinical trials, fresh off emerging from stealth mode with a $47 million Series A financing from Versant Ventures and RA Capital Management, Schimmelpennink reveals his larger picture for LENZ — without reaching for the reading glasses. Listen to the podcast to discover: Schimmelpennink's views on the influence on compounding pharmacies for presbyopia treatments.The impact of Allergan's miotics on this space.The potential benefits of these treatments for optometrists and ophthalmologists.What attracted Schimmelpennink to Presbyopia Therapies (now LENZ Therapeutics).What's next for LENZ in the presbyopia market and beyond.

In this episode, Camille shares with us how her upbringing influenced her professional choices as well as her work philosophy of doing good while doing well. She also talks about her work at Venrock, what guides its investment strategy, her particular passion for investing in orphan diseases and the importance of finding the right culture at funds.

In this episode, we interview Ross Jaffe, MD. Ross is an experienced healthcare venture capitalist with particular expertise in medical technology. Dr. Jaffe is one of the founding Managing Directors of Versant Ventures, a healthcare-focused venture capital firm, where for the last thirty years, he has focused primarily on early-stage medical device companies. Having retired from active investing for Versant in 2016, he now serves as a Venture Advisor to New Enterprise Associates (NEA) while completing his Versant responsibilities. Ross has served on the boards of multiple successful medical technology companies. Dr. Jaffe earned a BA in Policy Studies from Dartmouth, an MD from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He completed his residency in internal medicine and served as a part-time attending physician at the University of California, San Francisco. Ross has been recognized on the Forbes Midas List of leading venture capitalists in 2008, 2011, and 2012. Dr. Jaffe is a current member and former Chair of the Board of Advisors of the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and a former Chair of the Board of the Children's Health Council in Palo Alto, CA.

079 | Acknowledging some of the industry’s best Welcome to another episode of Biotechnology Focus radio. I am your host, Michelle Currie, here to give you the lowdown on the Canadian biotech scene. Today, I will be discussing such topics as empathic distress, the top industry leaders that stood out from the pack this past year, a plausible link between white matter in the brain and Alzheimer’s, and how a multi-use drug could benefit those combatting esophageal cancer. +++++ Ever felt like you were picking up someone’s stress just from being around them? As if their experiences radiated and permeated your own mind? Well, studies being done at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary are studying precisely that. Researchers have been told by healthcare workers that empathic nuances seem to transfer from soldiers’ who suffer from PTSD to their partners or family members, despite never having served in the military. Jaideep Bains, PhD, and his team at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI) in the Cumming School of Medicine have discovered that stress transmitted from others can change the brain in the same way as real stress does. The research team studied the effects of stress in pairs of male or female mice. They removed one mouse from each pair and exposed it to a mild stress before returning it to its partner. They then examined the responses of a specific population of brain cells in each mouse, which revealed that networks in the brains of both the stressed mouse and naïve partner were altered in the same way. “There has been other literature that shows stress can be transferred — and our study is actually showing the brain is changed by that transferred stress,” says Toni-Lee Sterley, a postdoctoral fellow in Bains’s lab and the study’s lead author. “The neurons that control the brain’s response to stress showed changes in unstressed partners that were identical to those we measured in the stressed mice.” The researchers discovered that the activation of the neurons causes the release of a chemical signal that acts as an “alarm pheromone” from the mouse that alerts the partner. The partner who detects the signal can then in turn, alert additional members of the group. Bains adds, “What we can begin to think about is whether other people’s experiences or stresses may be changing us in a way that we don’t fully understand. The study also demonstrates that traits we think of as uniquely human are evolutionary conserved biological traits.” The study demonstrates that the effects of stress on the brain are reversed only in female mice following a social interaction. The residual effects of stress on neurons in females were cut almost in half following time spent with unstressed partners. However, this did not apply or ring true for males. If some of the effects of stress are erased through social interactions, but this benefit is limited to females, this may provide insights into how we design personalized approaches for the treatment of stress disorders in people. +++++ I would also like to acknowledge this year’s Biotechnology Focus top life sciences CEO picks from across the country. They are industry leaders who have stood out from the pack, and whose tenacity is extremely admirable. They have captured the attention of the Canadian biotech investment community and are the cream of the crop as Chief Executive Officers on the Canadian biotech scene. With the help of some leading Canadian biotech analysts and investors, we’ve put together a list of who we think the Top 5 CEOs who elevate their companies are. The criteria for making the list: They are CEOs who have delivered in the past and are with companies where they have a chance of delivering in the future. They aren’t necessarily leading the biggest companies, but rather, they qualify because they are the best leaders. Dr. Clarissa Desjardins is a co-founder of Clementia Pharmaceuticals and has been the president since its inception in 2010 and chief executive officer since 2012. Her company is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that develops disease-modifying treatments for patients suffering from debilitating bone and other diseases. Cameron Piron is an industry-recognized leader and innovator in image-guided surgery. Although he is not a CEO, he has made a profound impact as a co-founder and president at Synaptive Medical – a company that is breaking ground with advanced medical devices, medical imaging and information science. Their BrightMatter technology combines surgical planning and navigation, robotic digital microscopy and informatics to create a family of devices to obtain patient data and retrieve it when needed the most. Dr. Ali Tehrani is a co-founder, president and chief executive officer of Zymeworks Inc., and an obvious choice for this year’s list. He has been an integral part of the success of Zymeworks, which continues to partner and flourish at a dizzying rate. The company’s lead clinical candidate, ZW25, is a Azymetric bispecific antibody that targets two distinct domains of the HER2 receptor resulting in multiple differentiated mechanisms of action. Carl Hansen started AbCellera working out of his laboratory at the University of British Columbia in 2012. He is the president and CEO of this privately held biotech company that provides enabling technologies for the discovery and development of monoclonal (mAb) therapies directly from natural immune cells. AbCellera’s lead technology is a proprietary single cell antibody discovery platform that provides researchers the opportunity to rapidly identify mAb therapeutic candidates from the natural immune repertoires of any species. Lloyd Segal, a veteran biotech executive, president and CEO of Repare Therapeutics was another indisputable choice for this list. Lloyd is an entrepreneur-in-residence at Versant Ventures, and from 2010-2016 was a managing partner at Persistence Capital Partners, a leading healthcare private equity investor. He held CEO roles at Caprion Pharmaceuticals, which he co-founded, Advanced Bioconcept and Thallion Pharmaceuticals, and has served as a director of several public and private corporations in the U.S. and Canada. Repare is developing new, precision oncology drugs for patients that target specific vulnerabilities of tumour cells. Its approach assimilates insights from several fields of cell biology including DNA repair and synthetic lethality. There was no shortage of great candidates for this year’s top biotech CEO picks. After so many outstanding nominations, it was hard to narrow it down to just five. Here are some of the Honourable mentions who just missed the cut: Roberto Bellini – President and CEO of Bellus Health   Richard Glickman – Founder and CEO of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Arun Menawat – CEO of Profound Medical Sammy Farah – President and CEO of Turnstone Biologics Anthony Cheung – President and CEO of enGene Inc. David Main – President and CEO of Aquinox Pharmaceuticals   +++++ Scientists from Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto have discovered that the white matter found in the brain chips away at memory by shrinking the brain and contributing more to dementia than previously thought. White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are bright spots on MRI scans – tissue in the brain that is wearing away due to effects of aging and vascular risk factors on the brain’s small vessels. The research, published in the February 2018 issue of the journal Neurology, showed that individuals with extensive small vessel disease had profound shrinking of the temporal lobe, an important brain region that is instrumental to learning and memory function. The study included over 700 participants of the Sunnybrook Dementia Study led by Dr. Sandra E. Black. The researchers’ analyses showed that shrinkage of the temporal lobe explained how WMH were associated with memory problems. WMH is associated with poor verbal recall more so due to temporal lobe shrinkage and deficits in recognition memory – the most sensitive and specific cognitive sign of Alzheimer’s disease – in people with Alzheimer’s disease and across other late-life dementia syndromes including post-stroke dementia. The researchers stress that small vessel disease is often a “silent” contributor to cognitive decline and dementia, as do large vessel strokes. Since small vessels are linked to brain shrinkage and memory problems it is important to recognize vascular brain disease as a potential “root cause” for dementia. +++++ Faculty of Medicine scientists at the University of British Columbia have discovered that a drug currently being tested for autoimmune disorders of the blood may also be a knight in shining armour for those with esophageal cancer. Shane Duggan, a postdoctoral fellow in the division of gastroenterology, and Dermot Kelleher, dean of the faculty of medicine, found that fostamatinib reduced the growth rate of esophageal adenocarcinoma in mice by at least 70 per cent compared to the control growth. Esophageal cancer has abysmal survival rates (only 14 per cent alive five years after diagnosis) and is a growing Canadian health concern. The scientists published their discovery in Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology explaining their search for possible treatment targets for esophageal cancer – the sixth-leading cause of cancer-related mortality and second-deadliest form of cancer. Duggan and Kelleher conducted a screen of about 6,000 genes found in a cell that are known or emerging drug targets in a variety of diseases. They found about 300 druggable genes specific to esophageal cancer and using biopsies of esophageal cancer from Br itish Columbia, the U.K., and Ireland, they narrowed that list to three primary candidates. It was then that they noticed something surprising – the genes were more associated with immune cells than with the epithelial cells of the esophagus. Esophageal cancer is often preceded by a condition called Barrett’s esophagus, which results from gastroesophagealreflux disease (GERD). The reflux causes the inflammation and induces the esophageal tissue to transform into intestinal-like tissue. The immune cells unleashed by GERD may never fully depart from the esophagus, causing low-level inflammation that continues undetected and without symptoms. The transformed esophageal epithelial cells, after prolonged exposure to inflammation, seem to produce and become driven by a protein called spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK). Duggan and Kelleher then turned their attention to fostamatinib, an SYK inhibitor developed by San Francisco-based Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc., which has shown promise in immune and lymphoproliferative disorders. Proving them right, their study expressed that the drug was very effective at stopping the growth of esophageal cancer in vitro and in mice models that had been implanted with human esophageal cancer cells. While the tumours expanded rapidly in the mice in the control group, there was virtually no growth of the tumours in the mice given fostamatinib. +++++ Well that wraps up another episode! As always, if you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you, so feel free to email me at press@promotivemedia.ca. In the meantime, thanks for listening and hope you have a great week ahead! From my desk to yours – this is Michelle Currie.

Medtech Conference Co-Chair Kevin Hykes, who is finishing up his two-year tour of duty as a conference co-commander, reviews the agenda for next week’s Conference.

Kirk Nielsen’s path to Versant passed through thoughts of medical school, a short stint in the NHL, and a span at Medtronic. Today, Nielsen represents the global VC’s interests in Medtech, serving as part of a new generation of partners taking over from the VC giant’s founders.

Versant Ventures closes its newest fund, a new stem cell company is born in the MaRs Discovery District and Auven Therapeutics official pulls the plug on the KIACTA™ AA amyloidosis program. We have all this and more for you this week on Biotechnology Focus Podcast.

Deals Bayer and investment firm Versant Ventures have jointly provided $225m in series A funding for a regenerative medicine startup called BlueRock Therapeutics. Symphony emerged two years ago with $66m from 14 banks and followed that funding up with a $100m Google-backed round last year. Now the company, which offers a secure messaging platform for … Continue reading "19 December 2016 – $225m for BlueRock Therapeutics, Microsoft Ventures Invests from its AI Fund and Much More"

Featuring a discussion and Q&A with Carlo Rizzuto, operating principal of Versant Ventures, a leading healthcare investment firm investing across the sector at all stages, with an emphasis on early-stage investment in therapeutics. In this video Carlo discusses Versant Ventures’ new $300 million fund for investing in bioscience, as well as other recent exciting developments and trends in venture capital and healthcare investing.

With just two weeks away from OIS@ASCRS, Conference Co-Chair Bill Link, managing director of Versant Ventures, reviews the highlights of the upcoming meeting includ-ing a tight focus on glaucoma and plenary talk by J. Michael Pearson of Valeant.

Bill Link, Managing Director at Versant Ventures, explains why opthalmology will continue to be a pillar for Versant's new fund. He also gives helpful advice to entrepreneurs and physicians looking to turn inspiration into innovation.

Guest: Sam Colella, Co-Founder, Versant Ventures Bio and Contact Info Chapters: (Advance the marker) 1:05 Where did it all begin for you? 4:23 What's in your magic sauce? 9:50 How did you get involved with Fluidigm? 13:30 "Build to buy" model 17:23 Is there a way to match the VC model to the long biotech cycle times?