pharmaphorum Podcast

For episode 11 of the pharmaphorum podcast our CEO and founder Dr Paul Tunnah took the helm to record a special roundtable episode in Philadelphia with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI).

The non-profit scientific research organisation is dedicated to addressing urgent, unmet global health challenges, including HIV and tuberculosis.

Dubbed a ‘non-profit biotech’, IAVI’s mission is to translate scientific discoveries into affordable, accessible public health solutions for the people who need them most.

Sitting down with Paul for this episode of the pharmaphorum podcast were:

L-R: Eddy Sayeed, Ana Céspedes, Paul Tunnah, Catherine Shih, Maoli Yuan, Anita Kawatra

Together they discussed IAVI’s clinical trials, how the Initiative has broadened out its initial focus on HIV vaccines and how it has contributed to global discovery and development.

IAVI’s research in Africa, India, Europe and the US follows an access-first approach to biomedical innovation, developing vaccines and antibodies in, and for, the developing world and seeking to accelerate their introduction in low-income countries.

Building on this theme the panel also covered IAVI’s impact on global health, the value it brings to pharmaceutical companies and the gaps in HIV research that its work looks to address.

You can listen to episode 11 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, acast and Stitcher.

For episode 11 of the pharmaphorum podcast our CEO and founder Dr Paul Tunnah took the helm to record a special roundtable episode in Philadelphia with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI).

For episode 10 of the pharmaphorum podcast I spoke to Nicola Redfern, who’s general manager at bluebird bio in the UK.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company has gone from being a gene therapy start-up to having three potential blockbusters on its books, with a CAR-T cancer medicine and potential treatments for a type of sickle-cell disease and a rare and deadly genetic brain disease.

For episode 10 of the pharmaphorum podcast I spoke to Nicola Redfern, who’s general manager at bluebird bio in the UK.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company has gone from being a gene therapy start-up to having three potential blockbusters on its books, with a CAR-T cancer medicine and potential treatments for a type of sickle-cell disease and a rare and deadly genetic brain disease.

Putting that in context Nicola provided an overview of gene therapy and outlined bluebird bio’s pipeline focus, before looking at the UK market access environment for gene therapies.

Nicola Redfern, bluebird bio

With gene therapies typically arriving on the market with hefty price tags, she also explained how bluebird bio was working to address these kinds of pricing challenges.

It’s an area that plays to a number of her strengths. Prior to joining bluebird bio in November 2018 Nicola was director of oncology patient access for Baxalta in the UK and Ireland, and before that director of market access and corporate affairs for Celgene in the UK and Ireland.

The podcast, which was recorded before the European Parliament elections and Theresa May’s announcement she would be stepping down as prime minister, also discussed Brexit and its implications for the UK biotech sector.

You can listen to episode 10 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, acast and Stitcher.

Re-engineered honey has proved to be a novel and successful development for Matoke Pharma, as well as a crucial step on the UK biotech company’s plans to target antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

In episode 9 of the pharmaphorum podcast Alan Westwood explains the research behind Matoke’s SurgihoneyRO, an antimicrobial wound gel that has a CE mark in Europe, and how the company is taking that product’s reactive oxygen (RO) component to develop novel pharmaceutical antimicrobials.

He joined Matoke Pharma last year as its managing director, having previous spent 35 years at Bayer, most recently as vice president.

A trained scientist, Alan began his pharmaceutical career as a sales representative, moved to clinical research in antibiotics, before taking on global marketing and brand manager roles that led to a series of management positions.

Matoke Pharma’s Alan Westwood

At Matoke he’s overseeing the research and development of its lead pharmaceutical candidate, RO101, which is being developed for chronic non-healing wounds, such as those involving multi-drug resistant (MDR) pathogens. It’s a timely and much-needed focus, with AMR forecast to contribute to 10 million deaths worldwide by 2050.

Also in this episode of the pharmaphorum podcast, Alan explains the genesis of Matoke Pharma, which is a member of UK biotech body the BioIndustry Association (BIA) and was founded in 2010 by Ian Staples, a former managing director at retail chain Halfords.

You can listen to episode 9 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, acast and Stitcher.

Re-engineered honey has proved to be a novel and successful development for Matoke Pharma, as well as a crucial step on the UK biotech company’s plans to target antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

In episode 9 of the pharmaphorum podcast Alan Westwood explains the research behind Matoke’s SurgihoneyRO, an antimicrobial wound gel that has a CE mark in Europe, and how the company is taking that product’s reactive oxygen (RO) component to develop novel pharmaceutical antimicrobials.

Digital innovation and disruption in healthcare are the subject of this episode of the pharmaphorum podcast, for which I visited GlaxoSmithKline at their Stockley Park base to speak with Kai Gait, a senior global digital strategy director at the company.

Kai’s role focuses on digital disruption within healthcare and involves developing digital solutions for patients living with respiratory diseases and he and his team focus on finding innovative ways to use new and existing technologies to support patient needs.

He’s worked in digital pharma for nearly 25 years, working across a range of local and global roles with international organisations. During this time, he’s led enterprise digital and innovation programmes, including developing and leading one of the world’s biggest physician websites, through to digital therapeutics programmes.

Kai Gait

We discussed how digital technology is disrupting healthcare and the positive impact it’s having on patient care, before taking a closer look at the Internet of Things (IoT) and how it can be applied to healthcare to help people understand and improve their own health and wellness. GSK’s MyAsthma app featured in our conversation as well, though it has since been decommissioned.

Given that Kai was recently made a Fellow at the Chartered Institute of Marketing it also seemed appropriate during this episode of the pharmaphorum podcast to look at the impact digital technology has had on pharmaceutical marketing.

You can listen to episode 8 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, acast and Stitcher.

Digital innovation and disruption in healthcare are the subject of this episode of the pharmaphorum podcast, for which I visited GlaxoSmithKline at their Stockley Park base to speak with Kai Gait, a senior global digital strategy director at the company.

For episode 7 of the pharmaphorum podcast I spoke to Ipsen’s Philippe Picaut about neurotoxin research, with a particular focus on Botulinum neurotoxins.

Best known for their long-established aesthetic uses to treat wrinkles under the brand names Botox and Dysport, Botulinum neurotoxins are increasingly being looked to for medical indications in muscle spasticity and migraine.

Picaut, who is senior vice president research and development for the neuroscience therapeutic area at Ipsen, talked about how neurotoxin research has been advancing and his company’s efforts in this area.

Philippe Picaut

We also covered some of the results presented at the TOXINS International Conference in Copenhagen earlier this year and considered what difference neurotoxin research could make to future medical science.

You can listen to episode 7 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, acast and Stitcher.

For episode 7 of the pharmaphorum podcast I spoke to Ipsen’s Philippe Picaut about neurotoxin research, with a particular focus on Botulinum neurotoxins.