One of the challenges with treating Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosing patients early enough in the course of its progression to have a meaningful impact with treatments. Sunbird Bio said it can accurately detect and differentiate specific proteins that aggregate and signal the presence of Alzheimer's disease, with a simple blood draw. It said its test in development could address the growing need for more sensitive, reliable, non-invasive diagnostic tests to accelerate drug development and enhance patient care. We spoke to John McDonough, executive chair and CEO of Sunbird Bio, about its diagnostic test for Alzheimer’s disease, how it has the potential to impact treatments and outcomes for millions of patients with the condition, and how its merger with Glympse Bio is expected to push it into new markets.

About 40 percent of all drugs in the Western world are derived from plants. But challenges with producing a reliable supply inherent with materials derived from agricultural processes can lead to drug shortages as climate events, pests, and plant diseases can affect yields. Antheia is harnessing synthetic biology to produce active pharmaceutical ingredients as an alternative to reliance on crop production. We spoke to Christina Smolke, co-founder and CEO of Antheia, about the supply-chain challenges underlying drug shortages, how the company is using synthetic biology to create a reliable supply of active pharmaceutical ingredients, and its growing pipeline of products in development.

The COVID 19 pandemic provided a painful reminder of the global need to protect people against the threat of existing and emerging infectious diseases. Emergex Vaccines is developing fully synthetic vaccines that provide advantages over live attenuated and RNA-based vaccines. The company says its vaccines can provide long-lasting T cell immunity, are cost effective, and stable at room temperature. We spoke to Thomas Rademacher, co-founder and CEO of Emergex Vaccines, about the company’s platform technologies, the manufacturing advantages they offer, and the company’s pursuit of universal coronavirus and influenza vaccines that work across variants.

The advent of targeted therapies has contributed to notable progress in the fight against cancer, but the ability of cancers to develop resistance to these precision medicines continues to leave patients in need of new approaches. Concarlo Therapeutics is developing therapies that target a critical driver of cell proliferation that is reactivated once a cancer grows resistant to certain targeted therapies. We spoke to Stacy Blain, co-founder and chief scientific officer of Concarlo, about the development of drug resistance in cancer, the company’s initial focus on breast cancer, and her own journey from academia to biopharma.

There have been significant advances to immunotherapies since their first introduction, but challenges remain to realizing their full potential in solid tumors. That’s because of the ability of tumors to use multiple mechanisms to evade the immune system. Akamis Bio is developing tumor gene therapies that are capable of targeting tumors and driving expression of multiple immunologically active biomolecules and therapeutic proteins to create a robust, antitumor immune responses. We spoke to Howard Davis, CEO of Akamis Bio, about the challenges immunotherapies have faced in addressing solid tumors, the company’s tumor gene therapy platform, and how it turns tumors against themselves to stimulate an immune response.

Mini-proteins have the power and performance of an antibody with the ability to bind tightly to a target. But because of their small size, it can penetrate into places where small molecules can go. Ordaōs Bio is leveraging its generative AI platform to develop a pipeline of mini-protein therapeutics. We spoke to David Longo, co-founder and CEO of Ordaōs, about the company’s focus on mini-proteins, its generative AI platform, and why its building its own pipeline around rare disease indications and partnering with other drug developers on other indications.

The Fas signaling pathway plays a central role in activating cell death. As such, it is implicated in a range of conditions and has been associated with ophthalmic diseases. ONL Therapeutics is developing therapies that target Fas signaling to address a range of retinal conditions. We spoke to Connie Chang, chief operating officer for ONL Therapeutics, about the role Fas-signaling plays in cell death, how this underlies a number of retinal diseases, and the company’s experimental therapy to inhibit Fas signaling.

Antibody discovery is a long, costly, and complex process. LabGenius is reinventing that process by using its platform technology that combines AI with robotic systems capable of designing, conducting, and learning from its own experiments. Its platform not only has the potential to accelerate the drug discovery process but can generate high-performing molecules that likely would not have been found through conventional discovery methods. We spoke to James Field, founder and CEO of LabGenius, about the company’s use of generative AI to discover new therapeutic antibodies, its initial focus on immunotherapies, why he thinks the data the company is generating to train its AI system is a significant point of differentiation.

Opioid overdose, abuse, and addiction affect an estimated 3 million Americans and accounts for $35 billion in U.S. healthcare costs every year. Tris Pharma is developing the opioid Cebranopadol, as an effective pain management therapy without the addictive potential of FDA-approved opioids. We spoke to Ketan Mehta, founder and CEO of Tris Pharma, about Cebranopadol, how it modulates the addictive potential by targeting two receptors at once, and its potential to address the opioid crisis. An editor’s note: since recording this podcast, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health, awarded Tris a five-year, $16.6 million grant to advance Cebranopadol.

With the rapid advances in cancer research, it can be difficult for physicians to stay on top of all of the emerging treatments in clinical development. Leal Health has developed an AI-powered platform that provides a personalized list of treatment options to match a patient’s precise diagnosis to advanced therapies in clinical testing. We spoke to Tzvia Bader, co-founder and CEO of Leal Health, about her own experience with cancer, how that led to the creation of Leal Health, and how it is harnessing AI to connect patients to clinical trials based on their exact diagnoses.