08.09.21 -- New Podcast Alert! Cell and Gene: The Podcast

Introducing the latest addition to the Life Science Connect community — Cell & Gene: The Podcast. Each episode features Cell & Gene chief editor, Erin Harris, interviewing industry and academic leaders as they discuss approved and pipeline therapies, new trends in manufacturing, the long regulated road to commercialization, and everything in between. Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode!

University of Pennsylvania Health System’s CEO, Kevin Mahoney, talks to host Erin Harris about how hospital systems must evolve to meet the needs of cell and gene therapy patients as these complex therapies are commercialized. They discuss what comprises UPHS and the ongoing innovation it brings to advanced therapies as well as how UPHS stays patient-focused at all costs.

Host Erin Harris talks to Enzyvant’s CEO, Rachelle Jacques, about the biotech’s lead asset, investigational regenerative therapy RVT-802, for congenital athymia. Jacques provides an update on FDA approval and details what’s next for RVT-802. She explains tissue-based therapies ― how far they’ve come and the work that’s left to be done. And, they discuss what being patient-focused means in the world of rare diseases.

Special-purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, are all the rage as far as startup financing vehicles go, and they're particularly well-suited for emerging biopharma companies. On this episode, we dig deep into the advantages, limitations, and potential pitfalls of the SPAC with a man who was executing SPAC deals before SPAC deals were cool. Whether you're a biotech investor or a biopharma leader looking to acquire or be acquired, you'll want to tune in to this episode for insight into the special-purpose acquisition company strategy.

As leaders at Diamyd Medical made plans to manufacture clinical supply of therapies aimed at preserving and restoring insulin production in Type 1 diabetes patients, outsourced production was on the table. Then, the company doubled down on its intentions and built out its own manufacturing facility. Diamyd Medical president and CEO, Dr. Ulf Hannelius, tells us all about the therapies his company is developing, plus the why and the how behind the company's choice to manufacture them in-house.

Kite Pharma’s global head of technical operations, Chuck Calderaro, joins us for a conversation on a dichotomy in the CAR T-cell supply chain: the inherent source material advantages and subsequent logistical challenges associated with the distribution of cell therapies. Calderaro discusses the implementation of manufacturing automation at Kite, the manufacturing hurdles that remain, and reflects on the company's autologous and allogeneic roadmaps.

When is the appropriate time for a new life sciences company to wind up the PR machine? What's the difference between public and investor relations, and how do they complement each other? What's newsworthy? What's not? What are the latest tools of the trade in an increasingly social-driven PR practice? What results should you expect, and how are those results measured? Here, we address these questions with physician and professor turned public relations practitioner extraordinaire Matt Middleman, M.D., founding partner and CEO at LifeSci Communications, LLC.

When the pandemic hit, Solis BioDyne found its manufacturing capacity stretched to the limit. In short order, it doubled, and then tripled, its manufacturing capacity. Then it doubled, and then tripled, its workforce. Meanwhile, it adopted a host of new platforms to serve the demands of its clients. Drs. Kadri Artma and Angela Vaasa join this episode to take us behind the scenes and tell us the scale-up story that's allowing the renowned producer of reagents to the life sciences industry to meet market demands.

Diversity and inclusion is — and has been — an important issue for the biopharmaceutical industry. As such, we thought it would be worthwhile to gain some perspective.