Simone Song was happily leading Goldman Sachs's healthcare investment banking for Greater China when the results of a health check changed her outlook in life. Wanting to dedicate the rest of her career to support innovative healthcare companies that are addressing the world's biggest diseases, she established ORI Capital, a venture capital firm focused on investing in innovative companies in the healthcare industry globally.

Simone joins me this week to share about her journey, and ORI's investing philosophies. 

And also artificial intelligence.

Topics we explored:

- How Simone’s health scare led her to leave banking to launch her own fund

- What is ORI’s investment approach?

- How does venture capital investing contribute to grooming young healthcare/biotech companies?

- How does ORI Capital use AI to find healthcare companies with a lot of potential?

- Simone’s advice for young startups

Follow ORI Capital:

Website – https://ori-capital.com/

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/oricapital/about/

Follow the Asia Healthcare Podcast!

https://anchor.fm/asiahealthcare

Twitter: @jchanpharma

Music from https://www.jeffcaylor.com/

Who wants to be a biotech journalist?

Amber Tong, Senior Editor of Endpoints News, joins the Asia Healthcare Podcast to share her origin story and what it’s like covering China healthcare.

Topics we explored:

- How did Amber get her start in journalism

- First impressions of biotech reporting

- What's fun versus not so fun about China biotech reporting

- Our favorite reading material / source of biotech news and analysis for Asia

- Comparing the interview styles of China vs US/Europe biotech executives

- Advice for future journalists writing about healthcare

Amber's latest special reports:

Researchers in biotech, academia and Big Pharma are offering puzzle pieces to crack CAR-T for solid tumors. Will they ever snap together?

Special report: Twenty extraordinary women blazing trails in biopharma R&D — Covid-19 and beyond

Follow Endpoints News -

https://endpts.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/endpoints/

Follow the Asia Healthcare Podcast!

Website: https://anchor.fm/asiahealthcare

Twitter: @jchanpharma

Email: [email protected]

Music from https://www.jeffcaylor.com/

A serious heart infection caused by a supposedly rare non-pathogenic bacteria landed me in the hospital for a month. This is my story of how I survived a critical illness.

Topics explored:

- What is Infective Endocarditis (IE)?

- What are the odds of getting IE?

- What diagnostic tests did I undergo?

- Why you should go to a private hospital for acute events

- General tips for protecting yourself and staying healthy

Useful links:

Infective Endocarditis – National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD)

https://rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/endocarditis-infective/

Heart Valves and Infective Endocarditis – Heart.org

https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/heart-valve-problems-and-disease/heart-valve-problems-and-causes/heart-valves-and-infective-endocarditis

Follow the Asia Healthcare Podcast!

Website: https://anchor.fm/asiahealthcare

Twitter: @jchanpharma

Email: [email protected]

Did you know that roughly only 2% of healthcare spending goes into diagnostic testing? And yet it informs the majority of our clinical decisions.

Lance Little, managing director of Roche Diagnostics APAC and board member of APACMed joins me this week to discuss the pandemic preparedness of Asia’s healthcare systems, and the role of diagnostics in the future of healthcare.

Topics we explored:

- How has Asia responded to the pandemic so far?

- What factors can really impact how well a country contain an outbreak?

- Is our current healthcare system setup vulnerable to sudden shocks like pandemics?

- Are we spending too little on healthcare diagnostics?

- How can we build the healthcare systems that can withstand ‘shock events’ for the future?

- Are we poised for a digital revolution in healthcare?

Useful links:

Building Regulatory Agility for Adequate Access to Quality SARS-CoV-2 Test Kits During the Global Pandemic

The Critical Role of Diagnostics in COVID-19 Management

Follow Roche Diagnostics APAC -

https://www.roche.com.sg/

https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/rochediagnosticsasiapacific/

Follow Asia Pacific Medical Technology Association (APACMed):

https://apacmed.org/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/asia-pacific-medical-technology-association/

Follow the Asia Healthcare Podcast!

Website: https://anchor.fm/asiahealthcare

Twitter: @jchanpharma

Email: [email protected]

Music from https://www.jeffcaylor.com/

In 2015, Piers Ingram co-founded Hummingbird Bioscience, a clinical-stage biotech company in Singapore. Leading a team of interdisciplinary scientists, the company believes that there is a better way to deliver a new generation of transformative medicine: by harnessing powerful modern approaches to systems biology and data science to better understand disease mechanisms and how to treat these, through the development of rationally engineered bio-therapeutics.

Piers joins us to talk about his experience in Asia and starting Hummingbird to develop drugs that go after 'hard targets' in cancer and autoimmune diseases.

Topics we explored:

- How Piers and Jerome met in Shanghai at an alumni event

- Why start Hummingbird Bioscience?

- Why target HER3 and VISTA in cancer drug development?

- How competition and collaboration can both coexist in the biotech industry

Follow Hummingbird Bioscience:

Website – https://hummingbirdbioscience.com/

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/hummingbird-bioscience/

Follow the Asia Healthcare Podcast!

https://anchor.fm/asiahealthcare

Twitter: @jchanpharma

Email: [email protected]

Music used with permission from https://www.jeffcaylor.com/

Ying Huang spent 9 years in drug R&D and 12 years as a biotech analyst. He signed up to be Legend Biotech's CFO, but 17 months later he was named CEO. In this episode, I catch up with Ying about his transition into CEO at Legend. We also talk about cilta-cel and the new clinical trial data the company will be presenting at this year’s American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting, and his reflections on 2020.

* Cilta-cel is an investigational chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cell therapy, formerly identified as JNJ-4528 in the U.S. and Europe and LCAR-B38M in China, that is being studied in a comprehensive clinical development program for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma and in earlier lines of treatment.

Topics we explored:

- Ying’s first impression of Legend Biotech at ASCO 2017

- Why Ying decided to join Legend

- How has Frank’s departure impacted Legend and his transition as CEO

- Cilta-cel’s (LCAR-B38M/JNJ-4528) development and expectations for ASH 2020

- Lessons from 2020 and his advice for future scientists

Useful links:

Legend Biotech Announces Leadership Transition

Legend Biotech CEO detained in China as part of investigation

177 CARTITUDE-1: Phase 1b/2 Study of Ciltacabtagene Autoleucel, a B-Cell Maturation Antigen–Directed Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapy, in Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma

Follow Legend Biotech:

Website – https://www.legendbiotech.com/index.php

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/legendbiotechco./

Follow the Asia Healthcare Podcast!

https://anchor.fm/asiahealthcare

Twitter: @jchanpharma

Music from https://www.jeffcaylor.com/

As of this recording, we are on our way to hitting 45 million cases of Covid-19 worldwide, the majority of those have recovered but new cases are still rising in most countries and if anything, this year’s pandemic has really highlighted how vulnerable our healthcare systems can be.

Even before the emergence of Covid-19, many countries faced challenges in providing equitable healthcare access to all of their population. Today on the show, we explore what healthcare systems in the APAC region look like and why it’s important for different stakeholders to work together to find ways to improve the system.

In this episode, I am joined by Rachel Frizberg, Area Head of Asia Pacific for Roche Pharma. Originally from the UK, Rachel shares with us what led her to Asia, why she’s passionate about working with different decision makers to improve health equity in the region, and what does ‘futureproofing’ health care systems mean and what will it look like.

Topics we explored:

- Why chemical manufacturing was not Rachel's calling, and how she found her way to Roche in Asia

- What makes health equity challenging in APAC

- Differences in healthcare systems across Asia and finding opportunities to bring stakeholders to the table

- Relationship building with trust, finding a common goal, and data-driven conversations

- What is 'futureproofing' healthcare systems and how can it be achieved?

Follow Roche's Futureproofing healthcare initiative:

https://futureproofinghealthcare.com/

https://www.roche.com/about/priorities/personalised_healthcare/futureproof.htm

Follow the Asia Healthcare Podcast!

https://siryn.co/asia-healthcare-podcast

https://anchor.fm/asiahealthcare

Twitter: @jchanpharma

Music from https://www.jeffcaylor.com/

Science parks – sometimes called research parks, innovation parks, or hi-tech parks – exist to provide an open and collaborative environment for innovative companies to connect and potentially form partnerships to accelerate the research and development of technologies and solutions of the future.

But what happens when a global pandemic forces the world into a state of physical distancing?

Shonan Health Innovation Park (iPark) is one of the few science and technology ‘hotspots’ in Asia today. Founded in 2018, Takeda Pharmaceuticals transformed its previous Shonan research site into Shonan iPark to create an ecosystem for researchers, industry experts, venture startups, government, and academia to collaborate and co-create cutting-edge technology and health solutions for patients across the world.

Toshio Fujimoto, GM of Shonan iPark, joins us to share what the park has accomplished in its first two years and how Covid-19 has impacted its operations this year. We were also delighted to have Rajeev Dutt, president and CEO of AI Dynamics, share with us why he decided to become a member of Shonan iPark and how it has helped his company transition into the biotechnology sector.

Topics we explored:

- What is the goal of the iPark and what benefits are there to becoming a part of the community?

- What are the challenges to building a successful ecosystem?

- What types of companies are at iPark and how do companies qualify to become a member?

- How is iPark continuing the support its members during Covid-19?

- Why is venture capital for the biotech sector so small in Japan?

- Why startups such as AI Dynamics decided to join Shonan iPark

- How has Covid-19 impacted fundraising activity for startups like AI Dynamics?

Follow Shonan Health iPark:

Website – https://www.shonan-health-innovation-park.com/en/

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/shonan-health-innovation-park/

Follow AI Dynamics:

Website – https://dimensionalmechanics.com/

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/aidynamics/

Follow the Asia Healthcare Podcast!

https://siryn.co/asia-healthcare-podcast

https://anchor.fm/asiahealthcare

Twitter: @jchanpharma

Music from https://www.jeffcaylor.com/

Just a quick update:

- AHP lands on the 20th spot of a list of top healthcare podcasts.

- Carrying out the mission of supporting Asia's healthcare industry.

- Can you support the podcast?

- Mulling a podcast website and video content.

- Also testing out some music.

Top 35 Healthcare Industry and News Podcasts By Health Professionals in 2020 [As of Jul 25, 2020]

Follow the Asia Healthcare Podcast!

https://siryn.co/asia-healthcare-podcast

https://anchor.fm/asiahealthcare

Twitter: @jchanpharma

Alzheimer's disease is one of the world's leading causes of death, with 50 million people suffering from the disease worldwide. The global pharmaceutical industry has spent billions of dollars on drug R&D but 99% of clinical trials have failed.

Part of the reason could be that most drug developers have focused on targeting beta amyloid, a protein that accumulates in the brain of Alzheimer's patients. This approach has not worked out so far, but scientists have been exploring other theories about the disease and developing treatments based on these other theories.

Cerecin (formerly known as Accera) is a global healthcare company focusing on developing novel treatments for neurological disorders. Now based in Singapore, CEO Charles Stacey joins us to discuss the challenges of drug R&D in Alzheimer's disease, what is the 'energy theory', and what's next for the private biotech company.

Topics we explored:

- Why Charles left medical practice to enter the world of venture capital, investing in Cerecin, before now running the company himself

- Why Cerecin rebranded and moved to Asia

- The challenges of Alzheimer's disease drug R&D

- What is the 'energy theory' behind Alzheimer's disease?

- Axona, what is a 'medical food', and updates on the tricaprilin program

Follow Cerecin:

Website – https://www.cerecin.com/

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/cerecin/

Follow the Asia Healthcare Podcast!

https://siryn.co/asia-healthcare-podcast

https://anchor.fm/asiahealthcare

Twitter: @jchanpharma

Music from https://www.jeffcaylor.com/