pharmaphorum Podcast

From science fiction to reality: AI in drug development

With about 92% of new drugs failing in human clinical trials, pharma companies face tremendous financial losses and, more importantly, development and delivery of potentially life-saving treatments are woefully delayed.
In today’s pharmaphorum podcast, web editor Nicole Raleigh speaks with Dr Isaac Bentwich, CEO and founder of Quris.AI, about how AI could revolutionise preclinical research and accelerate the development of potentially life-saving drugs, safely.
Exploring the notion of 3D organ modelling, combining AI and ‘advanced’ biology such as organ-on-chip, and delving into his research passion of the rare diseases space, including FragileX, Bentwich explains that there might be a long road left to travel, but with the acceleration that has taken place with such technology over the past few years, the horizon of success might not be too far off in the distance. No longer science fiction, we are living in the realm of tangible results and possibilities with AI.
You can listen to episode 161a of the pharmaphorum podcast in the player below, download the episode to your computer, or find it - and subscribe to the rest of the series - in iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Podbean, and pretty much wherever you get your other podcasts!

Precision medicine, NGS, and the quantum leap in biomarkers

In a new pharmaphorum podcast, web editor Nicole Raleigh speaks with Luca Quagliata, Vice President and Global Head of Medical and Scientific Affairs at Thermo Fisher Scientific, a company committed to advancing precision medicine, for a conversation on this space and a new frontier of biomarkers.
Quagliata discusses Thermo Fisher’s ongoing collaboration with EVERSANA, pharmaphorum’s parent company, and that collaboration’s investigation of the impact of utilising electronic health record (EHR) data in haematological cancers to support the company’s value proposition for ultra-fast next generation sequencing (NGS) with oncomine myeloid solutions.
That included a presentation at Frontiers Health 2024, in Berlin, in the deep dive, ‘Overcoming data linkage barriers with tokenization technology: RWE on the use of targeted therapy and its impact on survival in blood malignancies’ – presented alongside Dr Pierantonio Russo, Corporate Chief Medical Officer at EVERSANA.

Seeking effective, safe treatment for all with precision dosing

In a new pharmaphorum podcast, editor-in-chief Jonah Comstock speaks with Dr Victoria Richon, CEO of Entact Bio, a company focused on the small molecule space, with its team of scientists, entrepreneurs, drug creators, and problem solvers working together to bring new medicines to patients who currently have few options.
Creating new medicines by enhancing protein function, Richon is driven by the desire to bring drugs to these patients. She and Comstock discuss protein inhibition in comparison to protein enhancement, based on the idea that many diseases are caused by too little of a certain protein – for instance, a new wave in small molecule drug discovery is those that bind to the protein of interest, but also to another protein that modifies the protein of interest, also known as induced proximity.
They explore the possibilities of PROTAC targeted protein degrader technology, Richon talking through the example of cystic fibrosis and the role of proteins in longevity there – as well as the future possibilities.

Seeking effective, safe treatment for all with precision dosing

Modern medicine moves ever more to precision, personalised medicine, and precision dosing is critical in a world that recognises biological individuality – especially when it comes to paediatric care.
In a new pharmaphorum podcast, web editor Nicole Raleigh speaks with Dr Sharmeen Roy, chief scientist at DoseMe, for a conversation on precision medicine tools and how pharmacokinetic (or PK) and pharmacodynamic (or PD) characteristics are a – long overdue – trend in pharma at the moment, from lead identification right up to final-stage clinical trials.
Advancements in technology a key driver to this end, Dr Roy explains why such tools should be used to promote precision patient care, end to end.

CAR-T therapies: Faster, better, cheaper

In a new pharmaphorum podcast, editor-in-chief Jonah Comstock speaks with Phil Johnson, MD, president and CEO of Interius Biotherapeutics.
Working in the in vivo cell therapy space, Johnson discusses the injection of a manufactured vector into a patient to create the CAR-T cells directly inside the body of the patient, without the need for chemotherapy treatment beforehand – hence such hope for in vivo cell therapy’s potential. Targeting both T-cells and NK-cells, Johnson notes that this is a distinguishing factor of the work Interius does.
On the CAR-T space generally, Comstock and Johnson explore its evolution and how these products can be made faster, better, and cheaper – including the democratisation of these therapies, and the accessibility gains this means for patients.

Looking to history to prepare for America’s uncertain future

Since the results of the US election, the news has been awash with what the future might hold under a second Trump Administration, particularly within healthcare and life sciences.
In today’s podcast, web editor Nicole Raleigh is joined by Jesse Mendelsohn, senior vice president of Model N’s Center of Excellence, for a conversation that explores multiple aspects of the drug pricing debate in America – speaking before President-Elect Donald Trump confirmed his nomination of Robert F Kennedy Jr as US Health and Human Services Secretary.
Mendelsohn – using history as a guide – suggests there will be a layering of new laws, with, for example, a push for changes to the Inflation Reduction Act, rather than repeal of it. And he explores the potential impacts on pharma, also.

Next gen wearables: Transforming remote patient care

Virtual wards (also known as hospital at home) allow patients to get the care they need at home safely and conveniently, rather than being in hospital. The NHS is increasingly introducing virtual wards to support people at the place they call home, including care homes.
In today’s podcast, web editor Nicole Raleigh speaks with Dr Samuel Ewing, global head of pharma partnerships at Doccla, about the next generation of digital tools such as wearable medical devices, as well as remote patient monitoring and digital healthcare generally.
Although wearables go back decades, the true benefit for patients and healthcare systems allows home monitoring. Explaining a current COPD example, it’s about reducing hospital admissions, says Ewing, thereby reducing burden, and its also about more individualised care, on which point Ewing explores the current physician grading scale of Parkinson’s symptoms compared to remote and daily patient monitoring.
In short, technology is transforming healthcare today, but there’s still a lot of work to do. Yet, Ewing caveats against ‘hysteria’ around data management and posits that there is perhaps too much concern over data privacy.

From neurosurgery to focused ultrasound: Not if, but when

Therapeutic or focused ultrasound began being applied to neurologic conditions less than a decade ago, but its potential in a wide spectrum of brain applications is high.
In today’s podcast, web editor Nicole Raleigh speaks with Dr Neal Kassell, chair and founder of the Focused Ultrasound Foundation and previously a neurosurgeon, who created the Foundation in 2006 to improve the lives of millions of people with serious medical disorders by accelerating the development and adoption of focused ultrasound.
Focus ultrasound (FUS) has the potential to revolutionise therapy to the same degree that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning revolutionised diagnosis, says Kassell. The effect of the treatment can be observed as it is being administered in real time by using such imaging; it is image-guided therapy.
Of the 180 indications in various stages of development using FUS, the number of regulatory approvals and reimbursements is increasing. Dialogue has shifted from ‘if’ to ‘when’ and the Focused Ultrasound Foundation works to make that when ‘now’. And it all begins with evidence, evidence come from research.

A journey from personal to public: Digital health passports today

A digital health passport is an app, or online certification, that displays a traveller’s health or vaccination record. It can save lives, on both private and public levels.
In today’s pharmaphorum podcast, web editor Nicole Raleigh speaks with Matt Hollingsworth, co-founder and CEO of Carta Healthcare, a company seeking to support the healthcare data registry market by transforming a previously manual clinical data abstraction process.
Hollingsworth discusses his own, very personal experiences that led to Carta Healthcare’s foundation and progressed its work, as well as the comfort that can be provided patients with chronic diseases – including congenital heart defects – with digital health passports, offering an information safety net for them whilst travelling, circumventing the need to carry veritable folders full of printed health records.
Diving into the what’s what of EHRs, AI’s role in digital health passports, and the pros and cons of a generally digital future, technology is nevertheless very much in our health futures, explains Hollingsworth.

Access to genomic surveillance: Open science and public health

The pandemic served as a catalyst for a revolution in genomic surveillance for tracking pathogens. The technology proved vital in aiding understanding of the evolution of and spread of virus in real time to inform public health measures, ultimately accelerating drug and vaccine development.
In today’s podcast, web editor Nicole Raleigh speaks with Dr Evan Floden, CEO and co-founder of Seqera, a data orchestration and genomics analysis company, about barriers of entry to genomic surveillance in public health labs and how these can be lowered to support future bioinformaticians, aiding acceleration and quality and accuracy in R&D.