Base to Base Biotech

This week, we speak with John Friend, CEO of Kazia Therapeutics; and have a conversation with PureTech Health CEO Robert Lyne and Eric Elenko, president and co-founder of PureTech and acting CEO of Gallop Oncology.

Times:

03:23 Kazia Therapeutics

31:56 PureTech Health

PureTech Health

PureTech Health plc is a hub-and-spoke biotherapeutics company dedicated to giving life to science and transforming innovation into value.

The company recently announced positive topline data from its phase 1b clinical trial of LYT-200, a first-in-class, fully human anti-galectin-9 monoclonal antibody, in heavily pretreated patients...

This week, we have a conversation with the founder, director and chief scientific advisor of Alessa Therapeutics, Pamela Munster.

Alessa Therapeutics

Alessa Therapeutics recently announced positive preliminary phase 1 safety and efficacy data for its prostate cancer treatment Enolen.

This was the first study to demonstrate that the FDA-approved prostate cancer compound enzalutamide can be safely and locally administered to the prostate via sustained drug eluting implants.

Recent key data presented by researchers at the NCI at the European Association of Urology Congress in London included:

All 20 patients enrolled in...

This week, we have a conversation with DIA chief science and regulatory officer, Maria Vassileva, and Medicus Pharma CEO, Raza Bokhari.

Times:

02:53 Medicus Pharma

29:13 DIA

DIA

DIA (Drug Information Association) is a global organisation that assists life science professionals from across all areas of expertise to engage with patients, peers and thought leaders in a neutral environment on the issues of today and the possibilities for tomorrow.

Starting with the controversy over the drug Thalidomide, DIA’s founders - a group of 30 pharmaceutical professionals, medical writers, and ac...

This week, we have a conversation with congenital myotonic dystrophy patient advocacy consultant Lisa Harvey-Duren, who was the founding Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation executive director in 2008, and Michael Snape, CEO and CSO of AMO Pharma, which is developing a treatment for the disease.

AMO Pharma

AMO Pharma is a clinical-stage specialty biopharmaceutical company working to identify and advance promising therapies for the treatment of serious and debilitating diseases in patient populations with significant areas of unmet need, including rare and severe childhood onset neurogenetic disorders with limited or no treatment options.

In addition to...

This week, our conversations are with Uwe Diegel, CEO of Lifeina, about their cooling technologies, and with Dirk Beher, CEO of FundaMental Pharma, about treatment resistant depression.

Times:

02:37 FundaMental Pharma

23:56 Lifeina

FundaMental

FundaMental Pharma is a preclinical biopharmaceutical company focused on developing new treatments for treatment‑resistant depression (TRD).

The company’s platform centres on proprietary dual‑acting modulators of the N‑methyl‑D‑aspartate receptor (NMDAR). These molecules simultaneously disrupt the pathological complex formed between NMDAR and the TRPM4 ion channel, while also acting as potent NMDAR antago...

This week, our conversations are with Bruce Leuchter, co-founder, president, CEO of Neurvati Neurosciences and GRIN Therapeutics; and Daniel Vitt, CEO of Immunic.

Times:

02:54 Immunic

24:04 Neurvati Neurosciences/GRIN Therapeutics

GRIN Therapeutics

GRIN Therapeutics Inc. is dedicated to the research and development of precision therapeutics for neurodevelopmental disorders with the goal of bringing hope to patients and caregivers.

In 2024, GRIN Therapeutics reported promising topline data from a phase 1b/2a clinical trial evaluating investigational radiprodil in GRIN-related neurodevelopmental disorder (GRIN-NDD) in patients with gain-of-function variants, leading to the...

This week, our conversations are with Steve Perrin, president and CSO of Eledon Pharmaceuticals, and Jason Bock, CEO and co-founder of CTMC.

Times:

03:18 CTMC

35:46 Eledon Pharmaceuticals

CTMC

CTMC is a joint venture between Resilience and the MD Anderson Cancer Center. It works like an internal manufacturing group, adapting to change in real time without charge ups and allowing for better control as a company develops their research process. With all of the resources in one circular supply chain (patients, clinicians, manufacturing, and regulatory), CTMC is executing the manufacturing and...

This week, because April 11 is World Parkinson’s Day, we chat with Dieter Willbold, CSO of Priavoid, and Antje Willuweit, director preclinical development of Priavoid, and Karsten Eastman, CEO and co-founder of Sethera Therapeutics, about the company’s work on peptides.

Times:

02:52 Sethera Therapeutics

22:35 Priavoid

Priavoid

Priavoid, a company advancing novel disease-modifying approaches for neurodegenerative disorders, recently presented preclinical proof-of-concept data for its candidate PRI-101 in Parkinson’s disease (PD) and related synucleinopathies.

The results show that PRI-101 inhibited aggregation of α-synuclein (α-syn) and actively disassembled α-syn-fibrils across in...

On this week’s episode, as April 2 is World Autism Day, we have a conversation with Manish Arora, CEO of LinusBio, on its test that can rule out if someone has autism, and we talk to Thomas Kledal, CEO of Synklino, about improving kidney transplantation outcomes through better cytomegalovirus (CMV) prevention.

Times:

03:18 LinusBio

35:43 Synklino

LinusBio

LinusBio has expanded access to its ClearStrand ASD test, the first non-invasive biochemical tool to rule out autism spectrum disorder (ASD), for children up to age 10. The limit was previously four years of age).

On this week’s episode, we chat with Hans Eriksson, chief medical officer (CMO) of HMNC Brain Health, about ketamine and treatment-resistant depression, and with Krishna Polu, CEO, president and co-founder of new kidney health biotech company R1 Therapeutics.

Times:

03:57 HMNC Brain Health

29:47 R1 Therapeutics

HMNC Brain Health

HMNC Brain Health is a Munich-based clinical-stage biopharma company developing personalised treatments for depression. It has a phase 2 programme using oral, non-dissociative ketamine to treat treatment-resistant depression (TRD).

The Ketabon programme, a joint venture between HMNC Brain Health and De...

On this week’s episode, we chat with Gabriel Levin, gynecologic oncologist at the McGill University Health Centre, and director of oncology at CureLab Oncology Inc., about elanagen, a promising therapeutic advance for women with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer; Eden Ben, CEO of Amorphical, about nano-amorphous mineral therapeutics inspired by blue crayfish; and Hans Schambye, CEO of BOOST Pharma, a company making progress in the battle with brittle bone disease.

Times:

03:36 Amorphical

26:26 CureLab Oncology

43:31 BOOST Pharma

CureLab Oncology

CureLab Oncology Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company headquartered in th...

As this week’s podcast comes hot on the heels of International Women’s Day and World Kidney Day, which was yesterday, we’ve been able to squeeze them both in. The conversations this week are with Hansa Biopharma CEO Renée Aguiar-Lucander, about imlifidase for kidney transplant patients; Kyron.bio CEO Emilia McLaughlin, about glycosylation; and hydrogel-based drug delivery solutions company AmacaThera’s CEO, Mike Cooke.

Times:

03:56 Kyron.bio

19:14 AmacaThera

43:01 Hansa Biopharma

Hansa Biopharma

Hansa Biopharma AB is set for a busy year. In December, the Food and...

This week, we’re chatting with Haseeb Ahmad, CEO of Purespring Therapeutics, about gene therapies in kidney disease, and with Pahini Pandya, Panakeia CEO, about colorectal cancer biomarkers, the potential of AI in clinical decision-making and how AI can transform workflows in diagnostics.

Times:

03:34 Purespring

24:11 Panakeia Technologies

Purespring Therapeutics

Purespring is a precision nephrology company pioneering first-in-class, targeted genetic therapies designed to preserve kidney function.

The company is focused on transforming the treatment of kidney disease—an area of enormous unmet need, with more than 840m people worl...

The conversations on this week’s podcast are with CEO of Merz Therapeutics, Stefan König, about a variety of neurodegenerative conditions and a botulinum neurotoxin, and with CEO of Kainova Therapeutics, Sean MacDonald, about – among other things – G-protein coupled receptors, or GPCRs.

Times:

03:21 Merz Therapeutics

30:34 Kainova Therapeutics

Kainova Therapeutics

Kainova Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Montreal, Canada. The company develops drug candidates targeting GPCRs, with programmes focused on immuno-oncology and inflammatory diseases.

The company’s pipeline includes antibody and small-molecule programmes directed at GPCR targ...

The conversations on this week’s podcast focus on a rapid and accurate prostate cancer diagnostic test, with Valley Diagnostics’ CEO Dave Taylor; and on gene therapy for retinal disease, with Lance Baldo, CEO of Beacon Therapeutics.

Times:

03:12 Beacon Therapeutics

27:38 Valley Diagnostics

Valley Diagnostics

Valley Diagnostics is a Welsh company developing next‑generation lateral flow diagnostic tests designed for early detection of human and animal diseases.

Their approach uses patented biomarkers to make faster and more accurate screening possible in GP surgeries, point‑of‑care settings...

The conversations on this week’s podcast are with Vibhor Gupta, director and founder of Pangaea Data, and endogene.bio CEO María Teresa Pérez Zaballos.

Times:

03:09 Pangaea Data

23:43 endogene.bio

Endogene.bio

endogene.bio is a precision medicine company based in France developing a non-invasive diagnostic for endometriosis. The company’s aim is to apply precision medicine to female health.

The company was formed in 2022 by Maria Teresa Perez Zaballos and Cristina Fernandez Molina. Its innovations include a non-invasive diagnostic approach that uses menstrual blood rather...

This week, we chat with Affibody CEO David Bejker, and Martin Gleave, founder and chief medical officer at Sustained Therapeutics.

Times:

03:47 Affibody

23:28 Sustained Therapeutics

Sustained Therapeutics

A spin-out from the University of British Columbia in Canada, Sustained Therapeutics utilises a proprietary polymer gel technology to develop locally injected, long-acting medications. The platform is designed to release active pharmaceutical ingredients in a controlled manner over several weeks, aiming to replace traditional oral delivery or frequent injections.

While the primary focus is on managing acute and chronic pain without...

This week, we chat with Pan Cancer T CEO Dr. Rachel Abbott, about – among other things – triple-negative breast cancer. We also have a conversation with Erik Manting, CEO of immunotherapy company Mendus, and Janet Hoogstraate, CEO of the CDMO helping them, North X Biologics.

Times:

03:56 Pan Cancer T

20:23 Mendus/NorthX Biologics

Mendus

Mendus is a Swedish–Dutch immuno-oncology company developing cell-based therapies aimed at stopping cancers from coming back rather than treating only the initial tumour. Its lead product, vididencel, is an off‑the‑shelf dendritic cell vaccine being developed...

This week, we have a conversation with Lisa Guerrettaz, executive director, Pharmacology and Translational Science at Artiva Biotherapeutics; and Avacta Therapeutics’ CEO Christina Coughlin.

Times:

04:12 Artiva Biotherapeutics

21:30 Avacta Therapeutics

Artiva Biotherapeutics

Artiva Biotherapeutics is a clinical‑stage cell therapy company developing off‑the‑shelf (allogeneic) natural killer (NK) cell therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer. Headquartered in San Diego and founded in 2019, the company was created as a spin‑out from GC Cell (formerly GC Lab Cell) in South Korea, alongside a strategic partnership granting Artiva exclusive rights (outside Asia, Aust...

This week, three interviews, and five guests. We have conversations with Ulrik Tirsted Zeuthen, CEO, and Katarina Cantell, founder/CSO of Adalyon; Nisit Khandelwal, co-founder/CEO, Cycuria Therapeutics; and Craig Ritchie, founder/CEO of Scottish Brain Sciences and Deborah O’Neil, CEO/CSO of NovaBiotics as well as chair of the Life Sciences board of Opportunity Northeast, which runs ONE BioHub, and BioAberdeen.

Times:

02:38 Adalyon

32:44 Cycuria Therapeutics

53:43 Scottish Brain Sciences/One BioHub

Cycuria Therapeutics

Cycuria Therapeutics is a preclinical oncology company based in Graz, Austria, which is de...

This week, we’re talking about eye treatments with Oculis CEO, Riad Sherif, we have a conversation about mitochondria, with the CEO of Vandria, Klaus Dugi, and there’s also a short discussion about GoCo Health Innovation City in Gothenburg, Sweden, with Moa Dicksdotter, Partnership and Ecosystem.

Times:

02:35 Vandria

20:03 GoCo Health Innovation City

25:54 Oculis

Looking to the eyes

Oculis is a Swiss ophthalmology company developing topical and biologic treatments for retinal disease and neuro‑ophthalmic conditions. Its pipeline spans diabetic macular oedema, dry eye disease, and optic neurop...

This week, we’re talking about skin and wounds, with Ned Swanson, president and chief medical officer at PolarityBio, and Nikolai Sopko, chief operating officer, chief scientific officer and director at PolarityBio; and we discuss anchored immunotherapy with Howard Kaufman, CEO of Ankyra Therapeutics.

04:03 Ankyra Therapeutics

34:31 PolarityBio

Anchored immunotherapies

Ankyra Therapeutics, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, develops anchored immunotherapies that tether cytokines at the injection site to stimulate local immune responses while limiting systemic toxicity. The company’s technology is designed to unlock cytokines that have historically been limited by safety concerns.

This week, we have conversations with Jakob Andersson, vice president of engineering at Anaphora and founder and chairman of GAIA; Coave Therapeutics’ CEO Rodolphe Clerval; and MOBILion Systems’ CEO, Melissa Sherman.

Times:

03:13 Coave Therapeutics

24:43 GAIA Conference

36:55 MOBILion Systems

Genetic medicine for ophthalmology

Coave Therapeutics is a Paris‑based biotechnology company focused on developing genetic medicines using its ALIGATER platform. The company has pioneered ligand‑conjugated AAV vectors, enabling precision capsids that are highly tissue‑specific, safer, and more effective.

In October 2025, Coave presented data at the Europe...

This week, we have conversations with Sjanna Bosma, international relations officer at Health Holland; Mark Bagnall, CEO of Phenomix; and PDS Biotechnology CEO Frank Bedu-Addo.

04:17 Phenomix

32:53 Health Holland

44:02 PDS Biotechnology

Phenomix takes on obesity

Phenomix Sciences is a biotechnology company focused on precision obesity medicine. The firm has developed the MyPhenome test, a saliva‑based assay that uses machine‑learning algorithms and genetic risk scores to classify obesity phenotypes and predict treatment outcomes.

The company positions itself as the first commercial precision obesity medicine biotech, aiming to impr...

This week, we have conversations with Jérôme Van Biervliet, chair of the board of Flanders life sciences body Biovia and managing director at VIB; Sylvain Sachot, partner at Asabys Partners; and Jonas Béal, head of science strategy, R&D, at Owkin.

03:32 Owkin

27:42 Biovia/VIB

38:06 Asabys Partners

Biovia/VIB

Biovia has emerged as a new health innovation cluster in the Belgian region of Flanders, created through the merger of flanders.bio and MEDVIA.

The organisation brings together more than 450 members across biotech, medtech, and digital hea...

This week, we have conversations with Robert Bunn, founder and president of Ultrasound AI; Laura MacNeill, CEO of the Charcot Marie Tooth Research Foundation; and Iris Örhn, investment advisor at Business Region Göteborg.

03:00 Ultrasound AI

30:19 Business Region Gothenburg

39:35 CMTRF

Business Region Gothenburg

Business Region Gothenburg (BRG) is the regional development agency for western Sweden, tasked with driving growth and innovation across key sectors, including life sciences. Its work spans business support, investment promotion, and cluster development.

Gothenburg has more than 600 life science companies with around 11,000 employees, cr...

This week, we have conversations with Malin Kjällström, Gothenburg Tech Week Press and partnerships lead; Eliot Forster the CEO of Levicept; and Christophe Demaison, CEO of ENA Respiratory.

Gothenburg Tech Week

Gothenburg Tech Week is western Sweden’s largest technology event, held annually across multiple venues in the city. The 2025 edition ran from October 14–16, with a programme that includes startup and investor matchmaking, thematic forums, and partner showcases.

The event covers a wide range of topics, including AI, life sciences, and sustainable technologies. Sessions are hosted at The Yard, World of Volvo...

It’s World Immunization Day on Monday, so we had a chat with Geovax chairman, president and CEO David Dodd, and in our other conversation, we talked about infertility, with Igyxos Biotherapeutics’ chief medical officer Elke Bestel.

Challenging infertility

Igyxos Biotherapeutics is a French biotechnology company founded in 2017 and based in Nouzilly, France. The company focuses exclusively on infertility, developing monoclonal antibody‑based therapeutics designed to enhance the activity of gonadotropins, the hormones central to reproduction.

Its lead program involves a first‑in‑class antibody that potentiates follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), aiming to improve th...

This week, we have conversations with Cosmo Feilding Mellen, CEO of Beckley Psytech; Sirli Rosenvald, CEO of Estonian company Funki, and Per von Mentzer, CEO of Swedish company PharmNovo. We spoke with Funki at Life Sciences Baltics in Vilnius, Lithuania, recently, and with von Mentzer at NLS Days in Gothenburg.

Taking on pain

PharmNovo AB is a biotechnology company headquartered at Medicon Village in Lund, Sweden. Founded in 2008, it specialises in the development of novel treatments for neuropathic pain, a condition that affects millions of patients worldwide and remains difficult to manage.

The...

This week, we have conversations on data integration with Lithuanian company Vugene, and we talk protein degradation with Amphista Therapeutics.

Multi-omics

Vugene is a Lithuanian bioinformatics company focused on multi-omics data integration. Founded in 2021 by CTO Juozas Gordevičius, the company is headquartered in Kaunas.

Its core offering is a software platform designed to help researchers make sense of complex biological datasets — including transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and epigenomics — without requiring deep coding expertise.

The platform is a flexible, modular tool for academic and commercial labs that need to process high-throughput data but l...

This week, we have one interview, covering enzymes and AI with Biomatter Designs, from our visit to Life Sciences Baltics in Vilnius, Lithuania recently. And from the trip to Dublin in Ireland we talked about technology that can be useful in neurological condition diagnosis, and much more, with Danu Sports.

Enzymes and AI

Biomatter Designs is a Lithuania‑based biotech working at the frontier of protein design. Since its launch in 2018, the company has concentrated on building tools that use artificial intelligence to generate new enzymes and proteins from the ground up.

The id...

This week, we have three interviews done during Life Sciences Baltics, which was held in Vilnius, Lithuania recently.

While we have more still to come, this week on the podcast we have conversations with Justinas Mačiulaitis, Keli Therapeutics’ founder and CEO; Arnas Karužas, CEO of Ligence; and Emilė Radytė, CEO and co-founder of Samphire Neuroscience.

Ligence

Ligence is a health‑tech startup using artificial intelligence to automate echocardiography.

Founded in 2019 by a team of medical doctors and engineers, the company’s flagship product, Ligence Heart, applies deep learning to 2D ultrasou...

This week, we have two interviews again. We talk about treating high blood pressure with CEO of George Medicines, Mark Mallon, and have a conversation with Jack Hoppin, CEO of Ratio Therapeutics, and John Babich, CSO, about the field of radiotherapeutics.

Blood pressure

Nearly half of US adults have high blood pressure and despite all the treatments already available, three in four remain uncontrolled. This is often because the traditional stepwise treatment approach stalls before reaching target blood pressure.

George Medicines believes its solution could help millions of patients achieve better outcomes, faster.<...

This week, we have two interviews. We chat with Step Pharma CEO, Andy Parker, and also have a conversation with Re-Vana CEO, Michael O’Rourke.

Ocular therapeutics

Re-Vana Therapeutics and Boehringer Ingelheim recently announced a $1bn+ deal to develop long-acting ophthalmic therapies.

Re-Vana Therapeutics is a privately held, US and UK based developer of ocular therapeutics and innovative ocular drug delivery technologies which spun out of Queens University Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Terms of the deal include up to three development programmes per year leading to a potential total deal value exceeding $1bn...

This week, we have two interviews: one to mark Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, on osteosarcoma with Paul Romness from OS Therapies; and IMUNON’s CEO, Stacy Lindborg, talking about ovarian cancer, immunotherapy, covid, and more.

Interview times:

02:33 OS Therapies

23:03 IMUNON

Challenging osteosarcoma

OS Therapies is a clinical stage oncology company focused on the identification, development, and commercialisation of treatments for osteosarcoma (OS) and other solid tumours. OST-HER2, the company's lead asset, is an immunotherapy leveraging the immune-stimulatory effects of Listeria bacteria to initiate a strong immune response targeting the HE...

This week, we have three interviews to mark Stand Up To Cancer Day. We have conversations with Simon Kerry, co-founder and CEO of Curve Therapeutics; Poolbeg Pharma CEO Jeremy Skillington; and Stefano Gulla, CSO of Kling Biotherapeutics.

Interview times:

03:12 Curve Therapeutics

21:32 Kling Bio

37:10 Poolbeg Pharma

Microcycles to address cancer

Curve Therapeutics, a private biotechnology company using its gene-encoded Microcycle discovery platform to build a pipeline of innovative cyclic peptide and small molecule drugs to address high priority intracellular disease targets, with an initial focus on cancer, immunology...

This week, we have an in-depth conversation on molecular glue degradation, with Monte Rosa Therapeutics’ chief data and information officer John Castle.

Interview time:

03:52 Monte Rosa Therapeutics

Molecular glue degradation

A recent cover article in Science showcased research that expands by more than 1,000 the number of therapeutic targets (including undruggables) accessible through a protein degradation approach known as molecular glue degradation.

Using proprietary AI and ML approaches, researchers from Monte Rosa Therapeutics used algorithms to identify more than 1,600 human proteins predicted to be compatible with cereblon (a protein with a...

This week, we look at Herantis Pharma's work on Parkinson's disease, with the company's CEO, Antti Vuolanto, and we have an in-depth look at the recent cuts to mRNA vaccine projects, with Jean Peccoud, GenoFAB founder and professor at Colorado State University.

Interview times:

03:22 Herantis

16:28 mRNA cuts

Cuts to mRNA vaccine projects

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced a major shift in its vaccine development priorities, initiating a “co‑ordinated wind‑down” of mRNA vaccine projects under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authorit...

This week, we have a wide-ranging conversation with Anna Codina, senior director strategy and business development at SciY (part of Bruker), as we discuss artificial intelligence, and digitalisation, and the effect on labs. We also chat with Fibrobiologics’ CEO Pete O'Heeron about fibroblast spheroid technology.

Interview times:

03:49 FibroBiologics

21:26 SciY

SciY on the path to digitalisation

This week, we have a wide-ranging conversation with Anna Codina, senior director strategy and business development at SciY (part of Bruker), as we discuss artificial intelligence, and digitalisation, and the effect on labs.

...

This week, we talk about new treatments for wet dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with Judith Greciet, CEO of PulseSight Therapeutics, and there’s a conversation with Maite Agüeros, CEO and co-founder of InnoUp Farma about, among other things, peanut allergies.

Interview times:

03:24 PulseSight

20:43 InnoUp

Tackling dry AMD

PulseSight Therapeutics SAS, an ophthalmology biotech company developing non-viral vectorised therapies with minimally-invasive delivery technology, recently announced the first patient has been successfully dosed in its phase I clinical trial (PST-611-CT1) aiming to assess safety and tolerability of its lea...