My Guest in this episode is Dr. Dave Miller.

Dave is CSO of AustinPx and leads the pharmaceutics and analytical development teams and oversees the application of the KinetiSol™ Technology. Prior to his current position, Dr. Miller served as Vice President of Research and Development at DisperSol Technologies and Senior Principal Scientist at Hoffmann-La Roche. Dr. Miller is a co-inventor of the pharmaceutical applications of the KinetiSol technology. He has published over 40 research articles in peer-reviewed journals, authored 8 book chapters, and is co-editor of the First, Second, and Third Editions of the textbook, Formulating Poorly Water-Soluble Drugs. He is a co-inventor on numerous granted and pending patents worldwide. Dr. Miller holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the University of Texas at Austin.

In this conversation, Dave shares his extensive journey in pharmaceutical research and development, highlighting the evolution of drug delivery technologies, particularly Kinetisol. He discusses the challenges of transitioning from R&D to commercialization, the importance of precision medicine, and the complexities of manufacturing in the pharmaceutical industry. Dave emphasizes the need for innovative approaches to drug formulation and the role of emotional intelligence in professional success.

I enjoyed my chat with Dr. Dave Miller. Hope you do too.

Here's Dr. Dave Miller.

My guest in this episode is Brandon Rice.

Brandon is the CEO and co-founder at Weave Bio, a software company focused on automating regulatory submissions in the pharmaceutical industry using AI where he oversees product development, specifically leading the creation of AutoIND, their AI-powered platform for IND preparation.

In this conversation, Brandon discusses his journey to co-founding Weave Bio. He highlights the challenges of regulatory compliance, the potential of AI to streamline processes, and the importance of human oversight in AI-generated content. The discussion also touches on the cultural differences in AI adoption among pharmaceutical companies, global regulatory trends, and the need for open-mindedness towards new technologies.

I thoroughly enjoyed my chat with Brandon and learned a lot about the current AI in pharma landscape. I hope you do too.

Here's Brandon Rice.

My guest in this episode is Nikkhil Masurkar.

Nikkhil is the CEO of Entod Pharmaceuticals which is based in India. He is often called India's Eye Drops Man because Entod specializes in ophthalmic, ENT, and dermatological medicines.

In this interview, Nikkil and I talked about how closely American and Indian pharma worlds are intertwined - 4 out of 10 prescriptions filled in the U.S. are supplied by Indian companies. They supply almost half of all generic prescriptions. This translates to a significant cost savings for the U.S. healthcare system - over $1.3 trillion in last 10 years alone.

We also talked about - Why India is considered the 'Pharmacy of the World' - How Indian pharma companies can move beyond generics into high-value innovation - ⁠How Indian pharma can be a $450 billion industry by 2047 - How to balance affordability with innovation to ensure life-saving drugs reach more people - The biggest regulatory hurdles Indian pharma companies face when expanding in the USA And what all of it means for the American healthcare system, American pharma industry, and American patients.

We also discussed important leadership lessons, one thing about the Indian pharma industry Nikkhil would change if he could, and what he reads, instead of books, that drives his personal outlook and Entod Pharmaceutical's culture.

I enjoyed my discussion with Nikkhil about how closely American and Indian pharma industries are connected. I hope you do too.

Here's Nikkil Masurkar.

My guest in this episode is Arielle Smith.

Arielle serves as the President of Life Science at Event Cadence which is an event management platform. She was also one of the founding members of Event Cadence. It enables Life Science companies to efficiently plan and manage both industry conferences and internal meetings. Arielle has worked with pharma companies such as Merck, AstraZeneca, Jazz Pharma, Sanofi, and more.

Previously, she has worked with Lampire Biological Laboratories and Jefferson Health, which helped her to provide the Healthcare industry with the best all-in-one industry conference solution.

She also worked in sales and client management for Paramount-owned Showtime Networks, the company behind award-winning shows like Shameless and Billions.

In this discussion, Arielle and I talk about - How to coordinate efforts of multiple team members - How to collect and leverage data for networking and meetings - The logistics of sending multiple employees to industry events - Individual attendees vs a group of employees being sent by companies.

This was an interesting chat as it was about the logistics of attending industry events rather than what's being presented at those events.

I found my discussion with Arielle very informative and timely considering the kickoff of industry events. I hope you do too.

Here's Arielle Smith.

My guest in this episode is Ray Jordan. Ray is Principal at Putnam Insights.

Ray Jordan is a corporate affairs leader and reputational growth driver in healthcare, technology, biotechnology and consumer industries and has worked with or for companies such as Moderna, Amgen, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer.

Ray has been recognized numerous times by industry sources such as PRWeek, and PRovoke Media. He has helped companies get recognized for high reputational status, including in such rankings by FORTUNE, Axios/Harris, Science Magazine, Dow Jones and others.

In this candid interview about the pharmaceutical industry's image and reputation, Ray and I talk about: - What an image crisis looks like from a leader's point of view. - The current pharma reputation landscape and the Gallup poll. - Pharma industry wide efforts to address this. - Difference between big and small pharma reputation needs and - The relationship between reputation and market cap.

If you're interested in how corporations, particularly pharma companies, manage their public image, reputation, and any public issues, this episode is for you.

Here's Ray Jordan.

My guest in this episode is Vinay Patel.

Vinay is a pharmacist executive with over 18 years in the field and founder of MakoRx. He has been involved with health management, community pharmacy operations, and creating pharmacy services. Vinay has worked in various pharmacy settings including national retail, local community, hospital pharmacy, academia, and group medical practices. His efforts now focus on scaling clinical pharmacy services within employer on-site clinics and bringing employers innovative Rx savings programs.

Usually, I interview leaders from the pharmaceutical world, but this was the first time I talked to someone about what happens to the drugs after they leave pharma companies. If you're curious about the drug prices in the USA, I guarantee that you'll find this discussion very enlightening.

In this chat, Vinay and I talk about - The pharmacy network in the USA - How drugs reach from pharma companies to patients - Why same drugs cost vary at different pharmacies - Why drug prices have increased over the past 20 years - Why pharma companies are not responsible for the drug prices you pay (and who is) - What should the future of pharmacy look like - The role technology will play in drug distribution and - Advice for an aspiring healthcare entrepreneur.

This interview with Vinay was as informative and educational as I hoped it would be.

I hope you'll appreciate learning about your medicines' supply chain and costs.

Here's my guest - Vinay Patel.

My guest in this episode is Rene Marcotte.

Rene is Senior Vice President Life Sciences at RCM Technologies. Rene has nearly 40 years of experience as a data architect across multiple industries, including Life Sciences for the past 20 years. He has helped to lead and build over 40 data warehouses and analytic solutions, including for some of the largest and smallest pharmaceuticals.

In this discussion, Rene and I talk about data aka the digital gold.

Some of the topics we discussed are - The evolution of data over last few decades - Change in data hardware size and capabilities - How cloud has democratized the field for small and big companies - Necessity for an early data plan (pay now or pay much more later) - How end users use data to make better decisions and - What someone needs to work in data analytics.

Data is a dry subject but Rene can make it interesting as he did in this interview.

I hope you find it interesting too.

Here's Rene Marcotte.

My guest in this episode is Dr. Mohit Jain, founder and CSO of Sapient.

Dr. Jain is a physician-scientist with more than 20 years of expertise in physiology, computational biology, and mass spectrometry-based bioanalytics. He formed the Jain Laboratory at UCSD, where he led his team to develop next-generation mass spectrometry systems to probe the non-genetic landscape of disease across large-scale human studies. He founded Sapient in 2021 as a spinout of the Jain Laboratory to expand upon this mission, providing bespoke services multi-omics biomarker discovery.

In this wide ranging yet focused interview, we discuss - Biomarkers and how their role has changed - The predictor for a clinical trial success - Precision guided medicine - The change in disease classification over last 20 years - Genetic vs non-genetic reasons for disease - Next generation mass spectrometry and - Different disease expression in different people

I enjoyed my chat with Dr. Jain, particularly his ability to simplify complex problems the pharma industry is facing and what should be done about it. Hope you do too.

Here's Dr. Mohit Jain.

My guest in this episode is Scott Chetham.

Scott is an experienced healthcare entrepreneur who is currently the CEO and co-founder of Faro Health.

Scott leads the strategy for the Faro Health platform, which is designed to power clinical development by connecting data to decision making in a fundamentally new way. Previously, he was the Head of Clinical Research Operations and Data Management at Verily Life Sciences, formerly known as Google Life Sciences. His role involved leading the clinical strategy, clinical teams, process development and operations for all clinical projects of the company, including Google and Google[x].

Scott has also served as a Venture Partner at Versant Ventures, CTO and Co-founder of Intersection Medical (sold to ImpediMed), and VP Clinical Affairs (ImpediMed). In these latter two roles he was responsible for clinical research strategy and operations.

In this deep dive discussion, Scott and I talk about surgical robots, patient recruitment difficulties for clinical trials, why he co-founded Faro Health, the current inefficiencies in clinical trials, how he and his colleagues are working to make it better and how they are using AI to do that, what the future clinical trails will look like, and the lessons he's learned as a tech and healthcare leader.

I found my discussion with Scott very informative and timely. I hope you do too.

Here's Scott Chetham.

My guest today is Ron Gutman. Ron is an inventor, an investor, a serial technology and healthcare entrepreneur and a Stanford University adjunct Professor.

Ron has built and invested in technology and healthcare companies that have served hundreds of millions of people and saved countless lives worldwide. He's an inventor holding a series of patents in healthcare technology and Artificial Intelligence and won the World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer award.

Ron's articles have been published in respected media such as The Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fortune Magazine, CNN, and TechCrunch. He also wrote a best-selling TED Book SMILE: The Astonishing Power of a Simple Act, and gave a popular TED talk about smiling that was translated to 51 languages and viewed by millions everywhere. Ron has also presented in leading technology and healthcare conferences, including The World Economic Forum, TED, and Fortune Brainstorm Tech.

In this discussion, we talk about the impact of technology, particularly AI, on healthcare, how the pharma industry is adapting to the new technology platforms and the role he is playing in it. But my favorite segment is when we talk about his research, book and the TED talk on smile and how a simple smile can transcend cultural barriers and overcome any inner turmoil.

It was a refreshing conversation. I hope you enjoy it too. Here's Ron Gutman.