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.