Novel Therapeutics & Delivery Systems

November 09, 2020

Information

November 5, 2020

Corporate Guest: Josh Bilenker, CEO of Loxo Oncology at Lilly Panelists from Yale: Ranjit Bindra, MD, PhD, Sidi Chen, PhD, Craig Crews, PhD, and Faye Rogers, PhD

ID5857

To CiteDCA Citation Guide

00:00Cancer therapeutics and delivery systems.
00:03My name is Tim Shannon,
00:06partner at Canaan Partners venture capital
00:09firm that's active in the oncology
00:12space in the biotech space in general.
00:15And you would like to thank you all
00:17for joining us today and what we hope
00:20will be a really engaging 90 minutes.
00:23I think you know, for those of us who
00:25have been involved in in this area,
00:28you know there's nothing more exciting
00:30than to develop a novel cancer
00:32drug and see it benefit patient.
00:34It's incredibly rewarding.
00:36I think in today's session is some
00:40of our speakers present their work.
00:43You'll see how impactful Yales Bend
00:46in this sphere, and in particular,
00:49Yale Cancer Center and really helping
00:51to Harold the great progress that
00:54we've all seen in Cancer Therapeutics
00:57in the last decade.
00:59I think Yale on the El Cancer Center
01:03recognized that this is really a
01:06community effort and requires extensive
01:09collaboration networks to make
01:11this all work from start to finish.
01:14I you know that involves universities,
01:17governments,
01:17industry as well as investors in all,
01:21playing a role in this very
01:25important activity.
01:27So really,
01:27the goal of of today's
01:29session is is really twofold.
01:31It's for Yale really to continue to
01:34broaden that network in that community
01:36with whom they engage again to try to.
01:39You know,
01:40live out their passions of bringing promising
01:43and novel therapeutics to patients.
01:46But it's also importantly for you
01:49in the audience to learn about
01:51what Yale has to offer and how you
01:53might be able to become part of
01:56this community around the El Cancer
01:58Center and share that mission and
02:01that passion to do great things.
02:03So you know some of you may have
02:06already been involved in Cancer Center.
02:08Some of you this may be your
02:10first opportunity,
02:11but for both of those groups,
02:13we certainly hope it's not the last
02:16opportunity in this really catalyzes
02:18more engagement with the Cancer Center.
02:20Just in terms of some housekeeping issues,
02:23you know the audience in
02:25general will be muted,
02:26so you don't have to worry about the
02:29noise you're making in the background,
02:31but you know,
02:32we really do want this to be interactive,
02:35and the chat room will be live
02:38and that will be the vehicle
02:40with which you know we'd lash,
02:42like you to raise questions
02:44during the symposium,
02:45and particularly for panelists after
02:47here with panels, have to say,
02:49and your questions can pertain
02:51to their comments to there.
02:53Your questions can be, you know,
02:56really is broad as you like.
02:58So again,
02:59we would really encourage participation
03:02via the chat room that will be open
03:05and we will be monitoring this.
03:08Finally, this webinar will be recorded.
03:10I think I just saw a chat room
03:13question come up in that regard so
03:15that the webinars being recorded and
03:18will be available after the session.
03:21So with that introduction,
03:23I'd like to welcome our first speaker doctor,
03:26Charlie Fuchs.
03:27Doctor Fuchs is the Richard
03:29and Jonathan Sackler
03:31professor of medical Oncology
03:33and professor of chronic
03:35disease Epidemiology at Yale.
03:36He also is the director of the Yale
03:40Cancer Center and Physician and
03:42Chief of the Smilow Cancer Hospital.
03:45Charlie. Thanks very much.
03:48Tim, thank you and I want to welcome
03:51all of you to our second in this series.
03:56Yale engage cancer, which really has
03:59been an exciting opportunity for for
04:02us to reach out to a broad audience.
04:05And I want to just say that you know we're
04:08obviously engaged now and a global pandemic,
04:10which I think has to some extent been
04:12at the forefront of our attention
04:15and healthcare and drug development.
04:16But, you know, as we get past this and
04:19we're all looking forward to that point,
04:22we are reminded of the fact.
04:24That in the 21st century,
04:26cancer is really the great challenge
04:29that faces American medicine.
04:30It is the focus of so much work
04:33clinically in terms of support
04:35from government and philanthropy.
04:37And really the focus of of investment
04:40in drug development.
04:41And I think one thing we all share.
04:45We are a diverse group on this
04:47call from Academia, Pharma,
04:49biotech,
04:50the investment community where diverse.
04:52But I think what we all share
04:54in common is a commitment.
04:57To innovating in science and taking
04:59those discoveries and moving them into
05:01meaningful improvements in the treatment,
05:04early detection and prevention of cancer.
05:06You know, I'm pleased.
05:08As the director of the Yale Cancer
05:10Center to be at a place with an
05:14extraordinary legacy of Cancer Research.
05:16Really over the century in cell biology,
05:19genetics, chemical biology,
05:20pharmacology, immunobiology among others,
05:22and in clinical research.
05:24And, you know,
05:25as the NCI comprehensive Cancer Center
05:28for Connecticut in New England that we.
05:30We carry that responsibility with great
05:33pride beyond the great science we
05:35really proud of our clinical programs.
05:38In fact,
05:38the building I sit in now is
05:41the is Smilow Cancer hospital,
05:43which is celebrating its 10th
05:45anniversary as a center.
05:47Now that provides care to 48% of
05:50all newly diagnosed cancer patients
05:52in the state of Connecticut and
05:54patients well beyond that region.
05:56And with that has really been
05:59the laboratory of moving.
06:00Discovery in the laboratory into
06:03meaningful clinical treatments for cancer.
06:05In fact,
06:06one opportunity of great pride.
06:08I wanted to share is that this year,
06:124 Yale lead clinical trials.
06:15Will have led to new approvals in
06:18the oncology space with the FDA.
06:20So not only we committed to great science,
06:24but we're committed to moving
06:26that science into the clinic.
06:28Ann into ultimate approval.
06:29Tim has assembled for today's forum.
06:32Just a panel of rock stars
06:34who not only do great science,
06:36but actually are committed to
06:38moving that science into the clinic
06:40through their own work and through
06:43partnerships by starting companies
06:45by working with pharma and biotech.
06:47And I think each of their stories are
06:50are really going to be interesting for us.
06:52I also want to particularly
06:54thank Josh Blinker,
06:55who's the Chief Executive Officer for
06:57locks on Cology for joining our panel,
07:00which I think really adds more to
07:02the richest of discussion of how you
07:04ultimately move drug development from
07:06science into ultimate care of patients.
07:08You know, one thing we want to do in these
07:11forms, and I say this is the second one.
07:15The first one was an immuno
07:16oncology and very well received.
07:18Is in this forum focused on a key
07:21aspect of cancer treatment research?
07:23Is really that it be conversational
07:26we want to. We want interaction
07:28not only between our panelists,
07:30but with all of you to answer your questions.
07:33And more importantly, we want this to
07:36be the beginning of a conversation.
07:38We hope that this stimulates new partnerships
07:41between our colleagues and Yale and you,
07:43because ultimately, as Tim indicated,
07:45really to make a difference in cancer
07:48treatment and Cancer Research.
07:49We have to be working together so you know.
07:52Please feel free to reach
07:54out to me to the panelists.
07:56My colleagues both during this
07:57meeting and after will remind you
07:59of that because we want to work
08:01together in this fight against cancer.
08:03So Tim,
08:04thank you for leading this and I
08:06look forward to an exciting forum.
08:13Thanks very much Charlie.
08:16So the slide you're seeing now
08:19reflects the agenda for today,
08:22so the way the session will be setup is
08:26will have brief 5 minute presentations by
08:30the presenters you see listed on the slide,
08:34followed by large period of time to
08:37enable discussion and question question
08:40and answer sessions with panelists.
08:43And again, we really encourage
08:46your participation here.
08:47You know our goal here is really to provide
08:51information that you're looking for,
08:53so your questions are really what
08:55we need to help deliver that to
08:58you in their presentations.
08:59Each of the speakers will
09:01talk a little bit about,
09:03you know what their course
09:05scientific expertise is an in,
09:07particularly what?
09:08What sort of questions they are trying
09:11to answer with the goal again of
09:13ultimate impacting cancer care in their
09:16presentations and in part of the comments.
09:18Again, they also talk about.
09:20Some of the ways they have collaborated,
09:23you know,
09:24to to accomplish what they've
09:26accomplished thus far,
09:27but also set up the stage for
09:29additional ideas about collaboration
09:31with the broader community.
09:33So the chat room will be open throughout.
09:36Please again,
09:36feel free to put your questions into
09:39the chat room and will be monitoring
09:42those and bring those forward.
09:44And again all speakers will start
09:46with about a 5 minute presentation
09:48before we move into discussion.
09:50And the question and answer session.
09:54So with that,
09:55I'd like to welcome our first presenter,
09:58Ranji Vendra. Angie.
10:01Great,
10:02thanks
10:02so much for having me today and
10:04thanks everyone for joining and I'm
10:06a professor of therapeutic radiology,
10:08the Yale School of Medicine and also Co.
10:10Director of Yale's Brain Tumor
10:12Center will go on to the next slide.
10:15So one thing I'd like to start with
10:18this Doctor, Fuchs mentioned is is.
10:20We have quite a presence
10:21along the translation.
10:22ULL research spectrum at yeah,
10:24and it's I've been here both as a medical
10:27student and is a 9th year into faculty
10:29and it's just a wonderful place to be.
10:31On one end we have disruptive cutting
10:34edge science and just just a few examples
10:36that you won't hear about today,
10:38but I wanted to highlight
10:39Jason Crawford and Seth Herzon.
10:41Finding gut bacteria that produce entirely
10:43new DNA damaging agents in the middle there.
10:45Mark Saltzman, Dawn Engelmann.
10:47Peter Glaser with nanoparticles
10:48and tumor targeting peptides.
10:49At the bottom there we have
10:52from Aaron Rings lab,
10:53an entirely new secrete immune checkpoint.
10:56But on the other side of the spectrum we
10:58also have we're known for pivotal studies
11:01and excellence in clinical research.
11:03Here is the study.
11:04Two studies showing Biden Patrylak
11:06and Roy herbs,
11:07and also work from Pat Larusso,
11:09really defining high level clinical
11:11trial designs.
11:12And behind and in parallel to all that,
11:14we have a very vibrant and active
11:16biotech and form a community.
11:17And it's really driven by the heart of it,
11:20of at the at the Yale Office of
11:22Collaborative Research and certainly
11:24can check out their website and you
11:26can see there just some logos of the
11:28companies that have been recently
11:29started and notable that some of
11:31these companies are associated
11:33with the papers that I just showed
11:34you earlier and will be talking
11:36about some of this work throughout
11:38the sessions today and then we'll
11:40move on to the next slide.
11:43So just a little bit of background about me,
11:46so I sort of also live in multiple nodes
11:48of that research translational spectrum.
11:50I'm P of an NIH funded DNA repair lab,
11:52and our lab is mainly focused on oncology,
11:55synthetic lethal drug screening with
11:56a focus on DNA repair metabolism,
11:58and we've been fortunate to publish a
12:00number of high impact stories recently.
12:02In some of those journals shown there.
12:04I'm also a radiation oncologist and is
12:06a Co director of the Brain Tumor Center.
12:08I'm involved in a lot of glioma
12:10clinical trials.
12:11These are some of the cooperative
12:13groups that we work with.
12:14Here at Yale and then sort of on
12:16the evenings and weekends and very
12:18much involved in the biotech world
12:20and an active biotech entrepreneur.
12:21Most notably some accompany you may be
12:23aware of a Cybex therapeutics which
12:25will be in the clinic early next year,
12:27will go to the next slide.
12:31So just wanted to give you really just
12:34two case studies of some of the work
12:36that we are doing and how we've been able
12:39to translate that from the bench into
12:41the bedside and really into biotech.
12:43This is a story that we recently
12:45published in Science Translational
12:46Medicine and then more recently in
12:48nature and Nature Genetics where we
12:50found that alqama tablets like ID H1
12:52mutations that induce two HG unexpectedly,
12:54causing our defector Bracken.
12:55This defect that causes PARP
12:56inhibitor sensitivity, and we made
12:58that discovery just a few years ago,
13:00and it's really collaborative effort.
13:02Across multiple labs here at Yale,
13:03including Peter Glaser,
13:04Moroccan Alan Stuffing Helene.
13:05But we've been fortunate to be able to
13:08rapidly translate that into the clinic,
13:09and these are some of the trials
13:11that are shown here.
13:13But most importantly,
13:13in the bottom right,
13:15those are the clinical trials
13:16that yell that really made these
13:18these clinical protocols possible,
13:19and we're now taking specimens from
13:21these trials and bringing them back
13:23into the lab to try to understand who
13:25responds and who doesn't and what's
13:26the molecular basis for that response.
13:29Patterns on the next slide.
13:32And just a second more recent
13:33story that we published in Nature,
13:35Communications on the metabolic front,
13:37we found that a phosphatase which is
13:39up regulated or mutated in a number
13:41of cancers, including brain tumors,
13:43actually has an epigenetic
13:44silencing function that had not
13:46been described previously.
13:47And this leads to silencing of Aki
13:49nad metabolism gene called NAPER,
13:51which essentially inactivates the press
13:52handlers salvage pathway shown there
13:54and leads to exquisite sensitivity to
13:56class of drugs called nampt inhibitors.
13:57Now these drugs have actually been
13:59tested extensively in clinical trials,
14:01and many of them.
14:02Have been shelved or stymied
14:03because of lack of good biomarkers,
14:05and we actually believe we have
14:07those biomarkers now and again.
14:08Leveraging the yellow CR in the Blatnik Fund,
14:10which we can get to later
14:12in Connecticut innovations.
14:12A local state backed VC and the pitch
14:15program developed by Craig Cruz,
14:16we've been able to start a company,
14:18developed a new class of nampt
14:19inhibitors and we hope to bring
14:21those in the clinical trials soon.
14:22So with that,
14:23that's just the flavor of what we
14:25do and really looking forward to
14:27the discussion today and thank you.
14:37Thanks, Ron G much appreciated.
14:41Will save again. Collect questions
14:43throughout the presentation.
14:44So now we'd like to move on to
14:47the presentation of CD10 CD.
15:21Can you please turn on
15:22your video if you're able.
15:47Siri, can you unmute and open your video?
15:54Tim, maybe we could advance
15:55to Craig slides and give City
15:57a chance and we can come back a city in a
16:00moment. Sounds like a good idea.
16:02So again, we'll come back to see Chan,
16:05but let's move on to Craig Cruise while
16:09we try to workout CDs kinks. Great
16:13by the way I go. Thanks Tim.
16:17So I am the John C Malone professor
16:20of Emccd and joint appointment
16:22in pharmacology as well as in
16:25chemistry and I'll be talking a
16:27bit about my role in running the
16:30Yale Center for Electro Discovery,
16:32which is the small molecule an RNA eye
16:36screening center that is here at yeah.
16:39Excite please.
16:41So I've been here for 25 years working at
16:44the interface of chemistry and biology.
16:47When I started here,
16:48it was primarily focused on motive,
16:51action studies of natural products,
16:53and this is 1 molecule that
16:55came from those efforts.
16:57It is a derivative of a microbial Organism,
17:00derived Organism, excuse me,
17:02compound that is a antitumor
17:04compound that is a producer,
17:06monitor and so my lab identify the
17:08mode of action of this molecule,
17:11did some additional chemistry.
17:13I found it my first company.
17:15Pretty Alex 17 years ago that turned this.
17:21Yale finding into a drug candidate and
17:25this was approved for relapsed refractory
17:28multiple myeloma in 20 twenty 2012.
17:31Pretty,
17:31Alex was purchased by Onyx and
17:34ultimately by Amgen and Kyprolis
17:36now does over a billion dollars in
17:38sales for again refract refractory
17:41relapsed multiple myeloma,
17:42but since then next slide I've been
17:45working on the flip side of that.
17:48Not blocking degradation but
17:50actually inducing degradation,
17:51and so my last played a key role in
17:54developing this new field of targeted
17:57protein degradation where we can
17:59through induced proximity drag proteins.
18:02To the quality control machinery of the cell,
18:05inducing its degradation.
18:06And I've been working on it for 20 years now,
18:11but a key part of this transition
18:14in terms of translational impact
18:16was the founding of our Venice
18:19here in New Haven in 2013.
18:22This is from their IPO in 2018.
18:25They now have two clinical
18:27candidates in trials,
18:28one for breast and went for prostate,
18:31and Moreover,
18:32at least for their leading one,
18:35the prostate enable been able to
18:37demonstrate that this technology.
18:39Works in humans with respect to
18:42actually targeting and decreasing
18:43surrogate markers for prostate,
18:45and so those quite quite exciting.
18:49And I continue to play a role
18:51in advising our business,
18:53but I wanted to spend just a little
18:55bit of time talking about another
18:58hat that I wear on the next slide.
19:01And that is the Yale Center
19:03for Molecular Discovery,
19:04founded in 17 years ago.
19:06And this is the really the nexos
19:09of translational research at
19:10Yale with respect to developing
19:12assays screening compounds,
19:13you can go on to the next slide.
19:17And so we have the resources where
19:19we have small molecule compounds.
19:21We have RNA Sir and a collection,
19:24so you can go back to sleep.
19:28Now forward and so we have a
19:32team of professionals that are
19:34helping the Yale researchers to
19:37translate their academic findings
19:39into assay and thin screening.
19:42Small molecules.
19:43As I using robotics and then
19:46helping to interpret those assays
19:49and those results with the whole
19:53point of coming up with impact.
19:56And that is defined by
19:59papers as defined by grants.
20:01But it's also defined by starting companies,
20:04so where we stand now is that
20:06we have the infrastructure.
20:08We have the network, we have the resources,
20:11but we want to reach out to establish
20:14more industrial partners to help guide us.
20:17Help prioritize, help help direct where
20:19we should be focusing our efforts.
20:21You know what are the unmet
20:23needs an industry?
20:25What are the new indications
20:26that we're not aware of,
20:28and so we're really like to
20:31serve as a bridge?
20:32If you will, between?
20:34The diverse collection of cancer
20:36researchers at Yale and the greater World.
20:39And so.
20:40With that,
20:41I'll stop and turn it back to Tim.
20:50Thanks Greg.
20:51So I think we have City chance.
20:55Logistics worked out.
20:56An will go back to City
20:59Chance Presentation, City.
21:01Can everyone hear me?
21:06Good OK thanks. Next slide.
21:12So are my laps focus by Mary.
21:17Is cancer email therapy and we are trying
21:20to use multiple approach to improve
21:23cancer immunotherapy which is currently.
21:26A transformative therapeutic modality,
21:28but still made a having major setbacks by
21:33more than 70% of patients not responding.
21:36So the first program for us is to
21:40discover novel immune checkpoints
21:43or T cell regulators that are.
21:46Are important for the team might be
21:49environment and in order to overcome
21:52the current therapy resistance.
21:54An once those new molecules will
21:56discover we will be able to identify
22:00the therapeutic strategy for them and
22:03then the second program to engineer
22:06immune cells themselves like car T
22:09cells and develop therapeutic strategy
22:12to infuse those cells back to patients
22:15and as a cell therapy modality.
22:18In the final one would be program
22:21based on cell and gene therapy,
22:23and in this case we call it Meiji,
22:26which I'll elaborate later on next slide.
22:31So Major is a new class of
22:35cancer immunotherapy.
22:36We believe even though he said early stage,
22:40it is coin as Multiplex
22:42activation of endogenous genes,
22:45as immunotherapy may I maging so we
22:48think this is a new strategy as compared
22:52to order over the existing ones,
22:55because cancer cells.
22:57They have a lot of signals that
23:00are considered non self meaning.
23:03Mutations that distinguish them
23:05from the normal cells.
23:06But in order to find and kill
23:09the cancer cells,
23:10we better off amplify such signals in
23:13one of the most efficient way we did.
23:16Figure out is by crisper activation,
23:18just crank up all the non self signal
23:21so the immune system can see the
23:24cancer cells clearly and then come
23:26to destroy the cancer cells and
23:28take off the new cycle next slide.
23:32And then we have done a few proof
23:35of principle experiments and so
23:36that these works quite well in the
23:39preclinical models across multiple
23:41cancer types, including a pressman,
23:43normal pancreatic cancer types.
23:45And.
23:46We hope to continue to translate
23:49these knew fair treatment modalities
23:51and use them either alone or in
23:55combination with what already available.
23:59Thanks.
24:05I guess that he. Next,
24:07we'll go to Offei Rogers and
24:10listen to the presentation
24:13of her work, right?
24:17Thank you Tim. So I am an
24:19associate professor in the
24:20Department of Therapeutic Radiology and
24:22my lab focuses on understanding DNA
24:25damage response and so I like to tell
24:27you a little bit about how we've been
24:29using that interest to develop a novel.
24:34Next slide, please.
24:38So Uncle Gene Amplification is
24:40considered to play major roles not
24:43only in the formation of cancers.
24:45By amplifying genes that
24:46provide glued advantages,
24:47such as increased cell proliferation,
24:49angiogenesis, and decreased apoptosis,
24:51but also in later progression to states
24:54of that accesses by amplifying genes
24:56that facilitate migration and invasion.
24:58So it's not a surprise that gene
25:01amplification has become an
25:02important therapeutic target in the
25:04development of precision medicine,
25:06and so the current drug
25:08development strategy has been to.
25:10Target the overexpress protein products
25:12that are produced due to gene amplification,
25:15which has resulted in major drug
25:18breakthroughs such as Herceptin and
25:20other tyrosine kinase inhibitors,
25:21and so our lab as I said to you before,
25:25is really interested in understanding
25:27DNA damage response,
25:29and we have taken an approach to
25:31manipulate the DNA damage response
25:34network in order to find a novel way to
25:37treat these types of cancers so the cell.
25:40Has already in place DNA damage response.
25:45Mechanisms in order to conserve genomic
25:48integrity and our goal is to hope to
25:52manipulate this network by forcing
25:54cancer cells to go towards pathway
25:56on the pathway on the right following
25:59excessive DNA damage to activate a
26:02pop ptosis as opposed to normal cells
26:05which can choose to repair DNA damage.
26:08And so by hijacking the cell zone machinery,
26:11our goal is to reduce the normal
26:14tissue toxicity that might be
26:16experienced by these kind of drugs
26:18and prevent off target effects.
26:20So next slide please.
26:24So our.
26:25Focus has been to directly convert
26:28the amplified DNA into DNA damage
26:30and so by doing so we have designed
26:34oligonucleotides that can bind to
26:37specific sequences within the amplified gene,
26:41which is then forms a triplex structure
26:44that is recognized by the cell's
26:47DNA damage and through replication
26:49stress leads to excessive DNA damage,
26:52specifically,
26:53at the amplified regions this
26:55excessive DNA damage.
26:56Then can activate a DNA damage
26:59response as a result of all this
27:02damage leading to the activation
27:04of a P53 independent pathway,
27:07and so we believe that this drug
27:09design platform can actually have
27:12far reaching approaches due to the
27:14fact that there are over 500,000
27:17unique triplex targeted sequences
27:19throughout the human genome,
27:21and in fact there are more than
27:24460 amplified genes are cross
27:2614 different cancer subtypes.
27:28So we believe that we can specifically
27:31use this drug design platform to target
27:34many different types of cancers that
27:37are characterized by gene amplification.
27:40And thank you.
27:47Thanks very, very interesting.
27:49So now we move on to the final
27:53speaker who's joined our panel
27:55today and that's Josh Blinker.
27:58Josh comes from outside of Yale,
28:01but he certainly is part of the community
28:05living in Connecticut Ann and starting
28:08his last company here in Connecticut.
28:11So we're thrilled to have him here.
28:14Josh can really speak to today's
28:17topic from a number of angles.
28:20You know, given his background,
28:23so he's a trained medical oncologist.
28:26He's worked at the FDA.
28:28He's worked in venture capital and
28:31then most recently he's started his
28:34own incredibly highly successful
28:36company locks in one Cology,
28:38which recently was acquired by Lily.
28:41So now he sits inside Eli Lilly
28:44and is really one of the senior
28:48managers there in charge of.
28:50Well, is strategy and oncology,
28:53so again,
28:54we're really pleased to have Josh
28:57here today and he'll just offer
29:00some comments on what he sees is the
29:04challenges and opportunities and
29:07developing novel cancer Therapeutics
29:10an in regard to collaborations
29:12of companies and academia,
29:15Josh?
29:16Thanks
29:17Tim for the con introduction
29:19and having me here I.
29:21Prepared, prepared like two sets of remarks.
29:25And I think one of them may be
29:27appropriate for this session.
29:29I might save the other,
29:30but I'll try to get them to quickly Tim.
29:33And if you want me to elaborate on anything,
29:36please interrupt me or come back at the end.
29:39But one set of remarks I thought
29:42might be interesting and relevant to
29:44the attendees is the topic of what
29:46are the types of relationships and
29:48academic lab can have with industry?
29:50And what are the sort of risk rewards
29:52and implications of those relationships?
29:54And I really.
29:55Break them into sort of 3 three buckets with
29:58sort of increasing levels of intensity.
30:01I think at the in the sort of
30:04lightest intensity relationship,
30:05said is,
30:06I'll call it the advisor expert model,
30:09where the goal of the relationship with
30:12industry is really to raise awareness
30:14or detract resources in a global sense
30:17to a problem set that you or your lab
30:20thinks is important to human disease.
30:22And you can have this influenced by say.
30:26Riding free,
30:26free advice even or providing paid
30:29expert advice as a retained consultant.
30:32Or maybe being a scientific advisory
30:35member to accompany or small company or
30:38large company or guest lecturer in a
30:41large pharma setting is another example
30:44and the output that you're expected
30:47to supply whether there is sort of.
30:50Compensation return or not
30:51is basically your ideas.
30:53Alot of your remarks are going to likely
30:55refer to public domain information,
30:58but it's really your expertise and
31:00again the goal from both sides is just
31:03to bring awareness and education to
31:05perhaps a biology set of questions
31:08that needs your particular input,
31:10so that's that's level one that's light.
31:12That's no strings.
31:14That's kind of easy to come and go with,
31:17and I suspect many of you have
31:20already engaged.
31:20In that type of relationship.
31:23One level up from that.
31:25Is probably the media's,
31:27then I'll just call it for lack
31:30of a better sort of bucket term,
31:32let's call it some kind of sponsored
31:35research agreement that covers
31:37you and your lab or your group.
31:39And in probably involves your,
31:42you know your University signing
31:43off and in this type of agreement,
31:46the expectation is that your lab
31:48or know how is providing some kind
31:51of assay expertise where there's
31:53a data readout expectation that.
31:56That is awesome.
31:57What's proprietary you know between
31:58you and the industrial partner.
32:00And I've seen this transpire in both.
32:03What I'll call an external model and
32:05an internal model, the external model.
32:07There's a,
32:08there's a transference of the
32:10assay to the partner, they run,
32:12the assay,
32:12they perhaps share the results back with you,
32:15but your academic lab mission is not
32:18asked to be amended to supply the data.
32:21Ultimately it sits on the part of
32:23the industrial sponsor to do that,
32:25but you've enabled the tech transfer
32:27of that assay.
32:28And then on the internal relationship your.
32:33You're really the one running the assay,
32:35and therefore you're kind of on the
32:37hook for deliverables and you have
32:39to balance the academic mission
32:41with the Industrial Partnership and
32:43how to staff that and resource it.
32:45But either way that the goal
32:48here is to create data,
32:50not just your ideas and those data.
32:53Again, our internal or externally generated,
32:55and then the third level is probably the most
32:59intense that's co-founder or cofounder role,
33:02where it might subsume
33:03the other two categories.
33:05There might be a sponsored
33:07research component.
33:08There might be an advice component,
33:11but really,
33:11you're really putting your kind of currency,
33:14your personal currency,
33:16behind a set of ideas.
33:18And there's some expectation
33:21that that commitment.
33:23With all its conflicts and my next
33:26set of remarks tries to handle
33:29some of those conflict issues.
33:31But really,
33:32the behavior involves you know your
33:34personal sort of stake in this thing,
33:37and you might be involved in
33:40mediating conversations with check,
33:41transfer or investors or
33:43entrepreneurs as they come around.
33:45That idea or pharma executives.
33:47If it's a big pharma
33:49relationship or subsidiary,
33:50so I think that's the
33:53most intense and I think.
33:55It it has its own tradeoffs,
33:57but but with that I'll pause
33:59and see if Tim you'd like
34:01me to stop or elaborate.
34:05Josh, I think you're gonna run.
34:07Why don't you spend another minute
34:09or two elaborating and then will
34:11then next look for some panel
34:13reaction to your comments so can
34:15tune on a little bit more. Alright.
34:19It might be too much to handle
34:22the complexities of you know.
34:25I'd like to have sort of a dedicated
34:28sensor set of remarks about the
34:32frictions that I see as academics.
34:35Uh. Is academics?
34:37Really set up one of these three
34:41relationships and how do they?
34:45I'm just being distracted by some
34:48inappropriate comments on my.
34:50Screen, maybe I'll ask the
34:52moderator to look into that.
34:54My apologies were taking
34:55care of that now, OK.
34:59You know, I think I think it
35:01all of these relationships sets
35:02involve some soul searching,
35:05which I think happens at 2 levels.
35:07That happens at the personal level.
35:09Like what am I comfortable with?
35:12How do I want to use my time?
35:15How do I feel comfortable,
35:17uncomfortable with the idea of industry
35:19being part of my academic mission?
35:21And then I think there's also
35:23a time management, you know,
35:25sort of implication to some of this.
35:28How do how do I want to? Spend my time.
35:32Do I like the idea of being around a company?
35:35Do I like the idea of being in the
35:38halls of a large pharma periodically?
35:40So you know, I think.
35:44I think it all looks like roses.
35:46I think.
35:47I think the the worst assumption set
35:49to go in with is like OH industry
35:52is this sort of undisciplined,
35:54unlimited source of capital
35:56that's just going to augment
35:58the academic mission of my lab.
36:00I think that's the most simplistic
36:02and quite honestly unhelpful
36:03for both parties mentality,
36:05and it's a very common mentality.
36:07I encounter an I don't, I don't.
36:10I think it's sort of a dishonest partnership.
36:13If that's the thesis,
36:14because it misunderstands.
36:15What I think the true value of the
36:18partnership was intended to be,
36:19and so happy to unpack that a little more.
36:22But I want to say it out loud,
36:25because if one listening to
36:26this had that expectation,
36:28I think it's really worth another
36:30set of discussions that maybe
36:31the panel wants to unpack.
36:40Great thanks Josh. So that's yeah.
36:44A great entry into our panel discussion
36:47so we could just ask all the panelists,
36:51open up their mikes and turn on
36:55their videos and. Will move into.
36:59The discussion session. Of the meeting.
37:03So again reminder to the audience it.
37:07Please bring forward any questions
37:09you want into the chat room.
37:12Again, we'd very much like to hear those,
37:16so let me maybe just start out by
37:20asking the panelists just to react
37:23a little bit to Josh's comments.
37:27And in terms of your experiences in terms
37:31of interactions with investors about tech.
37:34For Pharma and maybe comment a little
37:36bit on how you thought about that.
37:39As you've sort of entered into those
37:42relationships and how you've managed some
37:44of those issues and some of those tensions.
37:51I I, I think that
37:53Josh should bring up a good point
37:56in terms of just expectations on the
37:59faculty's part in terms of what they
38:02hope to get out of these relationships.
38:05I like to think that that isn't that
38:08big of a problem with these days.
38:11It has been a problem in the past,
38:14but OCR and the entrepreneurial
38:17ecosystem at Yale does a really good job.
38:20I feel in terms of educating faculty.
38:23And helping them set expectations,
38:25figure out what's possible and
38:27so at least compared to when I
38:30started again 25 years ago,
38:32I find that the younger faculty that
38:35are now thinking about these types of
38:38partnerships are much more sophisticated
38:40in terms of what they need to prove with
38:44respect to what they bring to the table,
38:47so I'm sure that there will
38:49always be exceptions,
38:51but I've been impressed.
38:54Thanks Greg. And Elsa Ranjit,
38:57any comments in a youth? Sort of.
38:59Been involved in some of these
39:01situations, so yeah, it's
39:03a really great great question and I've
39:05been involved in a lot of different levels,
39:08including the companies that I've
39:10started and also companies have
39:12reached out to me and there really
39:13is a sweet spot I found. I'm I've.
39:16I've found that some smaller companies
39:17in larger companies really understand,
39:19as does the academic side.
39:21You know, the balance in the symbiosis
39:23of what each party can offer an
39:26you know if you can get it right,
39:28you can, really, you know.
39:30The academic and offer expertise or
39:32think about things the way the farmer,
39:34farmer, biotech side wouldn't
39:35necessarily an really vice versa.
39:37So I think it's there's an art to it,
39:40and I think it's actually quite
39:42important to recognize really.
39:43A lot of comments that Josh said so.
39:48But my Sanji, who said that anyone
39:50else with any comments or thoughts?
39:53I mean, I think it's important
39:55guidance and really these interactions,
39:58like all interactions,
40:00require trust and familiarity and and
40:03really are based on relationships.
40:05That was a part of the
40:08purpose of meetings like this.
40:10Again, is to build those relationships
40:13again to sort of navigate those.
40:16Those inherently or potentially
40:19tricky issues between an academic
40:21scientist and an investor or.
40:23Industry. Um? Let me say so.
40:27We have some questions coming in,
40:29so let's move to some
40:31questions from the audience.
40:32The first one I'll just read out.
40:36As an investor,
40:38I'm intrigued by the YMCD.
40:40Is this facility and the professionals
40:44working there accessible to people
40:47start up companies outside of Yale?
40:50Yeah,
40:51no I can. So the answer is yes,
40:55we have mechanisms in place that allow
41:00the screening technology, robotics,
41:02the compounds they actually development.
41:05At at at prices that are of course
41:08consistent with hail policy.
41:10But yes, it is possible.
41:12In fact, several startups Yale based
41:15startups use this as a way to augment in
41:18a virtual way some of their challenges
41:21of just getting off the ground.
41:23And so it really I think, is nice bridge
41:27again to translational work from you.
41:32Thanks Greg. Another question, can
41:35I interrupt one second I I want to
41:37apologize to the panel and the audience.
41:39There was obviously some individuals
41:41who are disruptive and posting
41:42it totally inappropriate things,
41:43and I know the Kathy Lynch and
41:45her team are working to remove it,
41:47so I just want to apologize for what is
41:50a great forum and I'm sorry to interrupt,
41:52but I just wanted to explain that.
41:56Appreciated Charlie and and
41:58we will carry on for sure.
42:01Make sure we pick up the the
42:03appropriate questions from the chat
42:05room so one of these phase was for
42:08you and I don't know if you saw it,
42:11but I think again,
42:12people find you know the basis of your
42:14approach and the potential scale of
42:17your approach to be really interesting.
42:19So the question really was framed around,
42:21you know, potential downsides of
42:23this in regard to toxicities and how
42:26that might be able to be managed,
42:28but maybe could you just how you think
42:31about that in terms of measuring
42:33the toxicities and also maybe.
42:35On delivery,
42:35so how would you think about delivering
42:38these therapeutics to target tissues?
42:41Yes,
42:41I think the beauty of our approach is
42:43the limitation of having toxicities.
42:45So you might imagine if we decide on
42:48oligonucleotide to bind to a specific
42:50sequence within a gene that in a normal
42:53cell you would only have one or two copies,
42:56and I'll use her too. As an example,
42:58a normal cell you would only have one
43:01or two copies of the her two gene,
43:04meaning there would be only two binding
43:06events within that normal cell at the most,
43:09and that this kind of DNA.
43:11Damage would be effectively repaired
43:13by DNA damage response pathways that
43:16we know can recognize and repair
43:18this type of DNA damage.
43:19Conversely,
43:20in a cell that has gene amplification,
43:23there would be multiple binding events.
43:25The induction of excessive DNA damage that
43:28would then overwhelmed the repair capacity,
43:30and so the cell will then choose as an
43:34alternative to activate a pop ptosis.
43:36So I think that that is the beauty
43:39of our approach because.
43:41It takes advantage of the cells
43:43genomic integrity and those pathways
43:45that put in place to maintain that
43:48so normal cells can repair.
43:49They will survive and they will be fine,
43:52while the amplified cancer genes
43:54would have excessive DNA damage
43:56and they would should choose to
43:58activate their own cell death.
44:00In regards with regards to delivery,
44:03we have been working with Doctor
44:06Mark Salzman an have been able to
44:09use nanoparticles to affectively
44:11deliver these oligonucleotides
44:13to specifically to tumors,
44:15and we've been very successful with this.
44:19Using the nanoparticles,
44:20we have very good uptake of
44:23our oligonucleotides to tumors.
44:27Alright, thanks very much,
44:29I appreciate that. Yeah,
44:31next question comes from the inside.
44:33Think is is again a bit of a follow up on.
44:38You know, the potential
44:40academia industry tensions.
44:41So you know, maybe the question we go
44:44to out to each of the academic pies.
44:47How do you manage? You know,
44:50sort of euryale responsibilities of
44:52training and developing students.
44:53PHD's post docs, you know with issues
44:56that pertain to your corporate relationships.
44:58Maybe talk a little bit about how
45:01you all just manage those issues
45:03within your lab in terms of who
45:06you know isn't my pretentious
45:08sort of who's involved in purely
45:10or academic work versus who might
45:12be involved in an industry work.
45:15So let me just open that up for anyone.
45:21Great, I'll jump in first. You
45:23know, actually 1 one thing that I've
45:25learned in the recent years is that you
45:28know a lot of trainees have different
45:30aspirations in different interests,
45:32and you know it's not.
45:34You know you'll have graduate
45:36students and postdocs,
45:37especially in these times that aren't.
45:39You know, may have an academic focus
45:42for their career, may have pharma,
45:44biotech, startup consulting,
45:45venture capital and actually now often will.
45:48When I have career development discussions,
45:50I actually first ask my trainees.
45:52Where do you want to be?
45:54And you know there's no no judgment
45:56about where you know every part of this
45:58life science development process is
46:00very important and it will help me know
46:02what you want to do in your career,
46:04because that actually also helps me.
46:06How much to involve some of
46:08our trainees when appropriate?
46:09Obviously, in some of some of
46:10the work that we do outside of,
46:12you know outside of Yale,
46:14I think that that you know I'll
46:16leave it at that as a first comma,
46:18but let some other
46:19folks comment as well.
46:22Anyone else wanna add?
46:29I can simply say that way I enter
46:32these collaborations partnerships.
46:34I always make it clear.
46:36And of course, Yale requires that work
46:39that's done in my lab has to be published.
46:43A bowl with. Of course.
46:45The write write reviews and checks and
46:48balances, but it has to be in theory,
46:52publishable. But to Rungis point,
46:54you know, I find that there's
46:57a wide spectrum of people.
46:59Wanting to sample industry and in
47:02fact I think that's a big knock
47:05against academia right now is that
47:07we are don't do enough to offer
47:10them real world opportunities,
47:12so I find that these relationships that
47:14I have with the private sector actually
47:17help my lab in terms of recruiting people,
47:21people that want to learn how industry
47:24works and specifically you know
47:27what type of skill sets they need
47:29to or can pick up while in my lab.
47:32And so I find that it is a really
47:35nice balance,
47:36but I haven't had a problem in
47:39terms of students.
47:40And maybe it's because there's
47:41a selection there.
47:42They come to my lab wanting
47:44specifically to gain that skill set.
47:48Yeah, great anyway I'll just add.
47:52You know local here in involved a bit
47:54to speak to that hunger and interest.
47:56You know we had came in with both
47:58Yale and UConn have started at.
48:00Yeah, what's called the Yale
48:02Canaan Fellowship program.
48:03Which really you know is open to
48:06MD or PhD students who are really
48:09interested in in the more corporate
48:12side of this bit and startup
48:14biotechs or on the investment side.
48:17And again the interest in that
48:19program is exquisite and that
48:22the talent is frankly outrageous.
48:24So again, I think there are certainly
48:28are large segments of the new
48:31world of Chinese who overly Archana
48:33learn this other side of the.
48:36Up the universe early on in their careers,
48:38and I think it's great because I
48:40think the less this is sort of a 2
48:43sided game and the more it's just
48:44the continuum and I think that
48:46much more productive it will be in
48:48frankly needs to be a continuum.
48:50Obviously with appropriate
48:51precautions to protect.
48:52You know academic integrity,
48:54but you know,
48:55I think the world would
48:56be a far better place.
48:58You know more seamless.
48:59We can sort of make make this for people.
49:03Throwback to you,
49:04I mean you
49:06can you as
49:07I've mentioned,
49:08have you know real wide aperture and?
49:11In terms of what you know what you've gone,
49:15you know your work experiences and
49:17your success is I'm just curious
49:19now as you sit inside,
49:21you know one of the largest
49:23pharma companies and you really
49:25have oversight in terms of.
49:27In a lot of their strategic
49:29thinking around oncology,
49:31maybe just share you know with the
49:34panelist as well as the audience.
49:36You know how will is thinking about
49:39their oncologist strategy and what
49:40might be similar in in regards to
49:42Lillie with other major companies.
49:44But also, you know what might be different,
49:47you know,
49:48sort of with a focus on where
49:50you see the ball moving and
49:52back to sort of Craig's opening,
49:54comments are really trying to
49:56give people an understanding of
49:58what the big oncology franchises
50:00are going to be looking for.
50:02You know five and 10 years down the
50:04road when investigators work starts.
50:06Starts coming online.
50:09Yeah, I mean big formal environments
50:12are complicated places.
50:14I think they're they're confusing
50:16from the outside to try to interpret
50:19that were confusing to me when I
50:21was working at a small company,
50:23and they must be confusing to many of you.
50:26Is sometime collaborators,
50:27and I think there's like three
50:29or two or three reasons for that.
50:32One reason is large farmers are
50:34constructed and what they'll call most
50:36of them as a matrixed organization.
50:38So that means there are these
50:40technical disciplines that are
50:41somewhat independent of each other.
50:43So the commercial group.
50:45Is the commercial group the
50:46Biology discovery group?
50:47Is the biology discovery of the
50:49pharmaceutics people are their own group?
50:51The business development or their
50:53own group and they might report
50:55up into common structures,
50:56but if you as an outsider or
50:59interacting with somebody,
51:00it's really hard to from their business card.
51:02Sort of know what political entity
51:04they represent in the larger company,
51:06so you may think that you have
51:08the ear of a company or not,
51:11but it's really hard to know
51:13what political sort of dynamics
51:14are going on behind the scenes.
51:16That may or may not allow that person
51:19to deliver on what you're talking about
51:22or delivering the way you'd hope,
51:24and so one of the things I've tried to do it.
51:28Lily is break that down as much as
51:31possible and make our portfolio is
51:33coherent as possible all the way
51:35from target ID to first approval
51:37and not have these gating technical
51:40go no goes where at any moment the
51:43rug could be pulled out and that's
51:45the problem with the matrix model.
51:47Is that they often can lead to
51:51incoherent decision making, I think.
51:53A second so I,
51:55I think two other themes worth
51:57mentioning is the commercial
51:59entities at these companies.
52:00The ones who are marketing
52:02approved products have a lot
52:05of say on what happens in R&D.
52:07They have this idea of what moves
52:10the needle and they still see
52:12the world through the lens of
52:15conventionally defined markets.
52:17Lung cancer is bigger than you know,
52:19Melanoma and Melanoma is bigger
52:21than you know.
52:22Neuroendocrine tumors anurans
52:23bigger than some even rare orphan,
52:25so they're going to see the
52:27world commercially an like.
52:29They'll use this like troubling phrase.
52:31You know what moves the needle?
52:33Can we make a billion dollars
52:35on this drug a year?
52:37Can we make 5 billion dollars a year
52:40on this drug if it's just 200 million?
52:43We don't even want to hear about it,
52:46so there's this.
52:47In many large farmers,
52:48this disproportionate commercial
52:49voice that affects strategic thinking
52:51and that voice is not futuristic,
52:53it's backward looking at sort of water,
52:56the franchises that already exist
52:58and are proven.
52:59And can we can we Bolt on to those
53:02existing franchises in ways that
53:03sort of feel familiar so as to
53:06fill in holes from patent cliffs.
53:08And that's not,
53:09in my opinion the right way to
53:12look to the future, and then the third.
53:15I think in companies that have
53:17more R&D influence at the top.
53:19They are thinking about futuristic platforms.
53:22They are thinking about thematic
53:24bets that they feel they don't want
53:27to feel like they've missed out on.
53:30Things like gene therapy, self therapy.
53:33Or an AI crisper like big delivery,
53:36big idea, new modality, kind of thinking.
53:38And then there are a handful of companies
53:41that are willing to risk capital it
53:44just not missing fear of missing out.
53:46They're not going to quote over
53:49pay for that optionality.
53:50But in other words,
53:51in the absence of an approved product,
53:54but they'll place some bets and I
53:57think that's sort of 1/3 theme that
54:00I think can drive some collaboration.
54:03So
54:04can I just ask follow up questions?
54:07Josh, you say.
54:08Some companies have a greater appetite
54:10for that type of early platform.
54:13They don't want to miss out
54:16type of approach.
54:17What distinguishes those
54:18companies from their peers?
54:21Some of its corporate
54:23structure and an individual.
54:24The force of individual personality,
54:26which is the most surprising and
54:28Lee satisfies ING answer and give
54:30you so you know you've been in a
54:33complicated room of decision makers.
54:35There are some rooms that are dominated
54:38by certain voices that and those,
54:40and that's separate from their title.
54:42Sometimes an some others have
54:45org structures that represent
54:46that you know who's at the top is
54:49that is the CEO of the company.
54:51Does he come out of commercial or
54:53does he come out of research or she?
54:56It's a very what is the last
54:58board meeting they had and what
55:00pressures did the executive team
55:02feel coming out of that board?
55:05Meeting?
55:05Was the board feeling like
55:07cash poor and risk averse?
55:08Or was the where they fear
55:10of missing out because their
55:12competitor just did a big deal that
55:15they feel embarrassed that they
55:16didn't get to look at like these?
55:19Are these like incredibly soft,
55:21unknowable things?
55:21That that prevent me from really
55:24answering you in a in a coherent way.
55:26But you know, at you've been on
55:29the other side of the CEO of A
55:32of a smaller company that was now
55:35now you're on the other side.
55:38How can you as a CEO of a biotech
55:41position yourself so that you can take
55:43advantage of some of these unique
55:46characteristics of the marketplace?
55:49Can you create a market without
55:51losing the bird in the hand?
55:56What do you mean by
55:58burden when you're when you
56:00want to sell yourself right?
56:01If you get an Overture, how do you
56:04make sure that your company is is?
56:06What is the market value of your company?
56:09If you only have one interested party?
56:14Well, if you look at like
56:16Form 14 SEC documents that
56:18describe the anatomy of most
56:19M and a deals 70% of them are
56:22one party deals, there's all.
56:24There's not a competitive process.
56:26So that's just that's just how it goes.
56:28The majority of the time there's
56:30only one party at the table.
56:32The second assumption I always
56:34make is every company that's pre
56:36commercial is for sale at all times.
56:39So like the notion that like there's this
56:42board of Directors or investor base,
56:44that's hoping that's holding out, you know,
56:47most credible offers are considered,
56:49and it usually taken,
56:51so I don't really see this sort of
56:54waiting for perfection mentality.
56:56Everybody's for sale.
56:57If you're a public company,
56:59your prices listed on the ticker
57:02everyday there's some takeover premium
57:04that needs to be added to that.
57:06Whether that's a 20% premium or 100% premium.
57:09Is sort of up to the multiparty
57:13dynamic that you alluded to earlier,
57:16or the swagger of your banker
57:19and your CEO or just the lacquer?
57:23Black of discipline or intense
57:24discipline of the counterparty?
57:26I mean, I can't.
57:27These are incredibly like human
57:29one off moments in time,
57:31like there's again no strategic way
57:33that I can give you first order advice.
57:36Just spin my Tim.
57:38What have you seen is as a board
57:41member in this.
57:42And I agree, I think. First of all,
57:46most most lemonades are one party,
57:49and as you know, so the notion of this
57:52competitive processes is not the norm,
57:54it's it's usually the exception.
57:56But I do think I do think most boards
57:59have to be open to respectable offers.
58:02You know 'cause boards are representing
58:04the interests of shareholders,
58:06so I'm going to have a
58:08responsibility to entertain any.
58:10Any offer behalf of investors.
58:12I think it's it's all fair game I guess.
58:15Just one follow up with Josh.
58:18So like what would be your advice too?
58:21You know the panelists here,
58:23or an academic sitting
58:25in the audience if they,
58:27if they wanted to really check for real
58:30interest in their technology within a
58:32big pharma company, what would you say?
58:36Is that the key?
58:38To making sure that whatever that
58:40interaction is will give a person
58:42quality feedback is is there a way
58:44to get that or is it you think
58:46it's a little bit of a hit or
58:48miss in a large farm environment?
58:50Yeah,
58:50and then let's do large farm
58:52and then go down to you know
58:54how biotech might be different?
58:56It's
58:57it's important to have a champion in in R&D.
59:01Who has influence in?
59:03In the company and can drive to
59:06a deal and I think it's always
59:09best to have R&D level champions.
59:12I mean there are other sources of
59:14capital and large farmers like
59:15a lot of them have some kind of
59:18sort of internal venture fund,
59:19or they'll make strategic passive
59:21investments that sort of without
59:23real buy in from R&D sometimes,
59:24or like token by in so I think those
59:27are usually the two parties that most.
59:30Small companies interact with either
59:32the you know the the VC group
59:35within the company or the R&D.
59:37I think if you're in a series
59:39of meetings where the seniority
59:41of the attendees is not going up
59:43or staying the same,
59:45you're not seeing things in writing.
59:48You don't feel like you're on a
59:50timeline like the diligence field
59:52goal post keeps shifting around
59:54on like what the next steps are.
59:56I think those are all subtle clues that
59:59it's kind of going sideways and then,
01:00:01on the other hand,
01:00:03if you really seeing like a focused
01:00:05effort to get something done and
01:00:07you're seeing consistency of voice,
01:00:09not just in your conversation,
01:00:11but with Yale Tech Transfer,
01:00:13that's an encouraging sign.
01:00:16Great, thanks.
01:00:16So we're going to shift some
01:00:19questions from the audience. Again.
01:00:21Just remind the audience that again,
01:00:23we've disabled the chat room,
01:00:25so if you want to ask a question,
01:00:28raise your hand and then the people
01:00:31supporting the logistics will engage with
01:00:33you and will get your question answered.
01:00:36Irmo Glaser has a question.
01:00:39Asked if you can open the mic.
01:00:49And yet Go ahead your mikes,
01:00:54open anything. No, not yet. Gamma,
01:00:57it looks like your Mike still baby muted.
01:01:07OK, try now. Thank you very much.
01:01:11I like to. No. Whether
01:01:16there are guidelines, I
01:01:18am like a an investor.
01:01:20Just looking around if
01:01:22there are guidelines as to. How
01:01:27do they? The pitch people.
01:01:32Speech to investors to make sure that
01:01:36all the basic Yale ethical considerations
01:01:39are in place.
01:01:41In other words, how
01:01:43do we know
01:01:44that the information they are
01:01:47giving us 100%?
01:01:49Size base are not. Dangit by the the
01:01:55interest in getting funding. To be very
01:01:59blunt, great yeah, thanks for the question.
01:02:02Thinking jump useless to you around.
01:02:05Maybe you can speak a little bit about sort
01:02:09of the venues use for this purposes as well
01:02:13as sort of the curation of what goes in.
01:02:17Sure, thanks Tim. So gramma.
01:02:20Thanks for your question.
01:02:21So when we have faculty pitching
01:02:24to investors or two companies,
01:02:26they're generally working very closely with.
01:02:29The with OCR with my colleagues
01:02:31here in the Tech Transfer Office.
01:02:33So for example I had mentioned earlier
01:02:36in the chat that there's a pitch
01:02:38fest being held in earlier December.
01:02:40These are the applicants for our
01:02:42Blavatnik Fund for Innovation Awards,
01:02:44so these faculty I think there's
01:02:46about 30 of them this year.
01:02:48Have all applied for this award.
01:02:50They're giving 5 minute pitches
01:02:52in their coached extensively,
01:02:53not only by people in the
01:02:55tech transfer office,
01:02:56but also by a board of
01:02:58reviewers which includes.
01:03:00Investors and also people from
01:03:02corporate VC funds as well as
01:03:04people in the pharma and biotech
01:03:07community are entrepreneur in
01:03:09residence network and you know,
01:03:11I think we all expect that Yale faculty
01:03:14are going to adhere to the highest
01:03:17standards of scientific integrity
01:03:19when there's any kind of conflict of
01:03:22interest management plan in place,
01:03:24faculty are expected to make those
01:03:27those financial interests known
01:03:29publicly when in publications or.
01:03:31Nations or the like.
01:03:32So I hope that answers your question.
01:03:37Thanks John. I think there's been a
01:03:40couple mentions of the Botnick program
01:03:42I think runs you had it in the slides.
01:03:46I think some of the panels
01:03:48have been involved in this.
01:03:49I think John you just mentioned, maybe John.
01:03:52I don't know if you'd be best
01:03:54or even Ranji just to speak a
01:03:56little bit about that program.
01:03:58'cause again I think it's one of the
01:04:00key parts of the infrastructure here.
01:04:02Trying to help sure bridge
01:04:04academia into commercialization.
01:04:05Yeah, I can give a little bit of an overview,
01:04:10so yells been very lucky and we're
01:04:13very grateful to have a generous award
01:04:16from the Bubonic Family Foundation.
01:04:18This is an award or foundation set up
01:04:22by Lindblad Botnek and similar awards
01:04:25been made to Harvard into Columbia,
01:04:28so yells received a total of,
01:04:30I think, $25,000,000 from the
01:04:33Bubonic Family Foundation.
01:04:34And this is used to.
01:04:36Fund projects at Yale that have
01:04:39significant potential to have an
01:04:41impact on human health and medicine.
01:04:43And every year we have a contest amongst
01:04:46faculty at Yale who apply for these
01:04:49awards there between 100 and $300,000,
01:04:52and generally these are quite competitive.
01:04:55I would say there are significantly more
01:04:58competitive than I jar one award for example,
01:05:01and some of these have already
01:05:03advanced to the point of having
01:05:05significant venture capital investment.
01:05:08So for example, city.
01:05:09Had launched a company last
01:05:11year called Evolved Immune,
01:05:12which raised I think something like
01:05:1435 or $36,000,000 in and arround,
01:05:17and this was based on research
01:05:18that was in part funded by the
01:05:21Bubonic Award and Ranjit.
01:05:22I know you've applied for
01:05:24the award this year,
01:05:26you could talk perhaps a little
01:05:28bit about your experience or
01:05:29city talk about your experience
01:05:31and in going through the process
01:05:33perhaps they are happy to know.
01:05:35See
01:05:36if you want to go first or
01:05:38some not dominate discussion.
01:05:39Oh sure, I think the bubonic.
01:05:43Our process is extremely rigorous.
01:05:45We went through multiple rounds of
01:05:49training and multiple rounds of.
01:05:52Discussion internally first,
01:05:53fully badly the signs and then extensive
01:05:57discussion with the other partners.
01:06:00And we are fortunate to be funded based
01:06:03on the science by the panel of extensive
01:06:08community from multiple entities,
01:06:11including academic industry venture.
01:06:13And then we're able to advance
01:06:16science because of the award,
01:06:18and then eventually able
01:06:20to create a startup so.
01:06:23Yeah, yeah I'll
01:06:24just. I mean,
01:06:25I've absolutely loved the process.
01:06:26You know, we started a company called
01:06:29Cyber Exca Therapeutics a few years back,
01:06:31and that was not through this process
01:06:33and I was able to sort of compare
01:06:35contrast and the process for Athena,
01:06:37which was recently awarded
01:06:38above that Nick Grant,
01:06:39and we're in the middle of the award.
01:06:42I can tell you is it was a
01:06:44phenomenal learning experience.
01:06:45You know each round of the pitch is not
01:06:48only learn how to refine your pitch,
01:06:50but also from the VC folks on
01:06:52some of these calls would sort of
01:06:54give a lot of real time feedback.
01:06:57And you know,
01:06:57I I kind of think of it as a rapid
01:07:00acting SP IR that's internal
01:07:02to the Yelp Community.
01:07:03And so I think it's a great opportunity.
01:07:06It allows you to do a little bit of the
01:07:08risking still inside the walls of Yale.
01:07:11Before that, you know,
01:07:12startup really takes off into the air.
01:07:14So yeah,
01:07:15really a big fan.
01:07:17Yeah yeah, I'll just add from
01:07:19being part of some of those
01:07:21values for those in the audience.
01:07:23Maybe not as familiar
01:07:24with the ecosystem here.
01:07:26You know there there are multiple venues,
01:07:28whether it's provodnik pitch and
01:07:30even you know precursors of those.
01:07:33Where you know vetting goes on by, you know,
01:07:38people who you know been there before,
01:07:41including scientists, venture capital,
01:07:43people who really pressure test
01:07:45opportunities. So again,
01:07:47I think there's been a nice build,
01:07:50an infrastructure around Yale really to
01:07:53support that growth and mentoring of
01:07:55scientists interested in translating
01:07:58their research to commercialization.
01:08:00And the quality is high because
01:08:03of those interactions.
01:08:04I do have a couple questions
01:08:06from the audience that were.
01:08:08Questions that that came in in advance.
01:08:11Let me put the first one out there.
01:08:14Maybe maybe.
01:08:15Ranjit and Josh just thinking
01:08:18about the nature of this question
01:08:21it might be addressed by you.
01:08:24The question is,
01:08:25are rare tumors disadvantaged?
01:08:27You know,
01:08:28and sort of this translation from
01:08:30from science to commercialization,
01:08:32and this is someone who's
01:08:34interested in units,
01:08:36primitive neuroactive dermal tumors.
01:08:37So how did Reggie I know?
01:08:40You have some interest in these areas?
01:08:43And Josh,
01:08:44I know you've had certain experience in and
01:08:47what might have been considered rare cancers.
01:08:50Maybe if you guys can just
01:08:53adjust that. Start 'cause I've
01:08:54learned so much from Josh and
01:08:56my time that I've known him and.
01:08:59Yeah, so the first drug I developed at
01:09:04box Oncology with was a TRK inhibitor.
01:09:08For a population that in the United States
01:09:10was probably about 2500 patients a year,
01:09:13assuming you could find every last one
01:09:15which you certainly couldn't because of the
01:09:18state of the diagnostic testing environment.
01:09:20So, like I candidly, I think Big Pharma
01:09:22is not seeking out those opportunities
01:09:25until there's an approved product.
01:09:28And then there's just so few.
01:09:30There's just so little in the cupboards
01:09:33of approved products that they can
01:09:36add to their commercial pipeline.
01:09:38They get interested after approval
01:09:40when they can begin to think about
01:09:43pricing and think about time on
01:09:45drug and prevalence modeling,
01:09:47and maybe they dare to dream once it's.
01:09:51It's FDA approved,
01:09:52but they almost never green light.
01:09:54An interim being,
01:09:55like really reductive here,
01:09:57and I'm not talking about my own company,
01:09:59which now I have some
01:10:01influence on their thinking,
01:10:02but I think I think most want to see
01:10:05that the commercial guys nip that in the
01:10:08Bud at a lot of large companies early.
01:10:11Let's just say,
01:10:12I think in contrast,
01:10:13Wall Street gives a lot of value
01:10:15to the rare company.
01:10:17The Wall Street places a premium
01:10:19on unlikelihood of success,
01:10:20and that's I think why rare tumors are
01:10:22exciting and that presumably there.
01:10:24Their mechanistically better understood,
01:10:26certain maybe more homogeneous
01:10:28in their in their their biologic
01:10:30drivers and therefore druggable with
01:10:32a higher probability of success,
01:10:34and so I always probable eyes success over.
01:10:37I always value PTS probability technical
01:10:39success over commercial potential,
01:10:41and I'm weird that way,
01:10:43but I think I think Wall Street.
01:10:46I think Wall Street gets it,
01:10:48they just want to see great data.
01:10:51They want to understand.
01:10:53Is this a company?
01:10:55That's going to be worth greater than
01:10:57zero on their leader programs or not.
01:11:00An being in a group of programs that
01:11:02is on the way to an FDA approval or
01:11:05not is a big fork in the road for the
01:11:09biotech investing universe out there.
01:11:11And small small companies.
01:11:13So like you know,
01:11:14there's companies out there company
01:11:16out there developing amenan inhibitor
01:11:18for mixed lineages, leukemia.
01:11:19You know,
01:11:20there's two companies out there doing it
01:11:23an they're able to attract capital and.
01:11:25In a following and people are
01:11:27excited about being exposed to that.
01:11:29That's not a kind of program you'll
01:11:31run across in most large pharmas,
01:11:34though.
01:11:36Yeah,
01:11:36and and I'll add, you know,
01:11:38as a sort of on the clinical side,
01:11:40there's really now and infrastructure
01:11:42that's allowing a lot of these rare tumor
01:11:44trials to progress much faster. As you know,
01:11:47adult pediatric brain tumor doctor.
01:11:48We've been working on things
01:11:50like IDH mean gliomas in kids,
01:11:52which is actually not that common,
01:11:54and we now have pretty robust cooperative
01:11:56groups that are ready to jump on,
01:11:58sort of precision medicine angle.
01:12:00Another interesting thing is a lot of
01:12:02these foundations are becoming more active.
01:12:04The National Brain Tumor Society,
01:12:06for instance, is started a venture fund.
01:12:08To try to get the more rare
01:12:10tumors funded kidney cancer,
01:12:11we look at FH Mutant HL RCC.
01:12:13This is like 300 cases a year,
01:12:16but there's actually now a whole group
01:12:18that's trying to fund these smaller trials,
01:12:20and then when you throw that together with
01:12:22the orphan status priority review vouchers.
01:12:24Depending on which which area are
01:12:26looking at that there there are pieces
01:12:29of the puzzle that are coming together
01:12:31that are making this a little bit
01:12:33more tractable.
01:12:34I think the existential risk
01:12:35of everything we just said
01:12:37is the drug pricing debate.
01:12:38So if if if you example say.
01:12:42If we can accept that there is such
01:12:45a thing as a $20,000 per month
01:12:47or $30,000 per month therapy,
01:12:49then we create legislation or mandates
01:12:51around price caps and limits.
01:12:53I I don't know how the financial model
01:12:56works even at the small company level,
01:12:58and I'm not seeing enough nuances
01:13:00in the public policy debate that's
01:13:02really tackling that question.
01:13:05Yep.
01:13:08Yeah, you still let you look
01:13:09at and I would just add.
01:13:12You know so so small tumors are great.
01:13:15If you really understand the biology,
01:13:17'cause the therapies can
01:13:19have a tremendous impact.
01:13:21I mean, Josh response rates with your
01:13:24product's were in the range of 50 sixty, 70%.
01:13:27Just remind us 80 percent, 80%.
01:13:29And that's not only unheard of in cancer.
01:13:33That's unheard of.
01:13:34Almost any indication across the industry.
01:13:36So when when you have something
01:13:39so profoundly impactful,
01:13:40you know, just because of the.
01:13:43Transformative benefit that
01:13:44has to patient that that really
01:13:47subscribe value so you know a small
01:13:50population with a really potent
01:13:52therapy rightfully can be can be
01:13:55valued highly and therefore draw,
01:13:57certainly,
01:13:57do investment is just want enough
01:14:00from investors from the small
01:14:02biotech community.
01:14:03So I will add that there's a way to
01:14:05have a strategy where your first solid
01:14:07tumor phase one might have all comers
01:14:09and you have a dream that your your
01:14:12follow on trial is for that population.
01:14:14Obviously that's always difficult to
01:14:15walk that line, but if there is a way,
01:14:18certainly many companies have done it.
01:14:19Then you can kind of hedge your
01:14:21bets a little bit, but. But
01:14:25it still takes an enormous amount of
01:14:28capital to develop a rare tumor drug.
01:14:30Yeah, our second drug was a.
01:14:33You know, targeting 2% of the lung cancer
01:14:36community with red alterations and.
01:14:38Anne medullary thyroid cancer.
01:14:40We were running GNP manufacturing
01:14:42campaigns that cost 3040 million dollars.
01:14:45Just the manufacturing and then you throw
01:14:48on top of that like it takes hundreds of
01:14:52millions of dollars to get a drug approved.
01:14:55No matter what the market potential is,
01:14:58it's just there's these fixed
01:15:01costs of compliance, manufacturing,
01:15:02pre clinical data management,
01:15:04post safety, post marketing,
01:15:06safety monitoring like there's just.
01:15:09The small product in the big product
01:15:10are exposed to the same fixed cost.
01:15:12You know issues.
01:15:13And so don't assume you can skunk work
01:15:16it forever if the drug starts to work,
01:15:19you're going to real capital in a
01:15:21real management team behind it.
01:15:25Yep. Um? So again, open up to
01:15:29the audience for any questions,
01:15:32raise your hand and we'll get
01:15:34you into the meeting and Kathy,
01:15:36you make me aware of any
01:15:38of those that I'm missing.
01:15:40Let me it just make an observation and then
01:15:43you know pass on a question to the panel.
01:15:47So one thing that I'm struck by
01:15:50about Yale compared to other.
01:15:52Institutions with worldwide were now
01:15:56is that while you know there's an
01:16:00incredible depth of talent and science.
01:16:05You know around every corner.
01:16:07The institution has a smallness to it in
01:16:10terms of being able to interact with it,
01:16:13which to me is like really unique
01:16:16compared to other places I go,
01:16:18and I think it's it's A wonderful attribute.
01:16:21I see that also in the collaborations
01:16:24within Yale.
01:16:25So again, I know many of you and I
01:16:27see a lot of collaborations going on.
01:16:30You know, with within,
01:16:31within the walls of Yale,
01:16:33and within that the Cancer Center run sheet.
01:16:35I think you called some of this out.
01:16:38Army Reserve without the lab to the clinic.
01:16:41Maybe if you could speak a little bit more
01:16:44about that as sort of my angle is you know,
01:16:47you know translation is so
01:16:49important and markers of translation
01:16:50or so important in Ranji.
01:16:52You talked about this iteration of
01:16:54Lab to the clinic and the importance
01:16:56of tissue human tissue tested with
01:16:58your drug and interrogating that.
01:17:00Understand what's going on.
01:17:01So maybe lunch.
01:17:02It'll throw it to you,
01:17:04but I really would ask others
01:17:05really just to talk a little bit
01:17:08about some of their collaborations.
01:17:10Within the walls,
01:17:11email that they think are really
01:17:12unique and really haven't enabled.
01:17:14You know you to do what you want
01:17:17to do. Question and you know, as I mentioned,
01:17:19a bit yellow while I was a resident at
01:17:22Sloan Kettering for about five years
01:17:24and was able to compare experiences
01:17:26that at much larger sort of complexes.
01:17:28And one of the reasons I came back
01:17:30to you was that that spirit at the
01:17:32Cancer Center and on the campus.
01:17:34It's a very small close knit community,
01:17:36but with very, very big ideas and deep
01:17:39collaborations and certainly doctor
01:17:40fuses really engender that further at
01:17:42the center and it's just a wonderful
01:17:44place to be and just an example is,
01:17:46you know when we found that
01:17:48you know I DH mutations.
01:17:49Cause PARP inhibitor sensitivity and
01:17:50it was sort of the opposite of the
01:17:52current approach in the clinic to use
01:17:54I DH inhibitors that suppress the mutation.
01:17:56We actually say we should exploit the defect.
01:17:58We still need to figure out if it's got legs
01:18:01in the clinic and that's what we're doing,
01:18:03but it was the folks like Pat Larusso,
01:18:05Inpo leader, who run Phase one here at Yale,
01:18:07and, you know,
01:18:08we literally shoot down the Hall.
01:18:10You know,
01:18:10right when we're getting the paper ready?
01:18:12Brought the galley proofs over
01:18:13there and I said, well, you know,
01:18:15what do you think can we?
01:18:17Can we take a lap ribbon?
01:18:18Just run a trial?
01:18:19And just get this going her in Polydor.
01:18:22We sat down and had a Cup of coffee
01:18:24and we mapped it out and part of the
01:18:26reason it was so successful was that
01:18:28it isn't an assembly line type of
01:18:31approach and it gets back to Josh's
01:18:32comments of at the upper level of
01:18:34those people know the deeper science.
01:18:36Same thing here.
01:18:37If the clinical trials have a
01:18:39deep understanding and respect and
01:18:40relationship with the science,
01:18:41you can have conversations with
01:18:43pure basic scientist anyone and
01:18:44really integrate that data.
01:18:45And so when patent Jeff and I and
01:18:47Peter Glaser folks are mapping those
01:18:49trials that we're thinking about.
01:18:50The on treatment biopsies the PK,
01:18:52PD biomarkers and and we're getting
01:18:54deep in the science and you know
01:18:56Pat as a deep respect for it and
01:18:58we kind of go back and forth and no
01:18:59ones making assumptions about you
01:19:01know the other part of the coin.
01:19:02The trial design versus the science,
01:19:04and so I'll leave it that.
01:19:05But that's just one example of why
01:19:07I think things have flourished here.
01:19:10I also just add my experience
01:19:13with the Yale Cancer Center.
01:19:15I'm actually in on the main campus,
01:19:19so I teach undergraduates biology.
01:19:21So for me the Yale Cancer Center
01:19:24has been instrumental in making sure
01:19:27that I know what's going on from a.
01:19:30From a clinical point of view,
01:19:33that the retreats the seminar series.
01:19:36The pilot grants that are available to
01:19:39faculty to facilitate collaborations among.
01:19:41People from different disciplines
01:19:44really make for a very tightly
01:19:48dense collaborative network.
01:19:51But I just wanted, you know,
01:19:53put put this 2 two finer points on this
01:19:56with respect to my to recent companies.
01:19:59When I had this a bit of a crazy
01:20:02idea of how to degrade proteins
01:20:05an I was thinking about how to.
01:20:08Start this company are Venice.
01:20:10I knew that I needed to have
01:20:12a killer app right?
01:20:14And so the beauty of the platform technology.
01:20:17It could be applied to
01:20:19many different targets.
01:20:20And so I sat down with Dan Pitch Black.
01:20:25A prostate cancer specialist
01:20:27here and with my investor an.
01:20:30It was really nice to be able to sit and
01:20:34have the investor listen to the end user.
01:20:38If you will hear what could be a
01:20:41unique application of this technology
01:20:44and and I think that that really
01:20:47helped me seal the deal in terms of
01:20:50getting our business off the ground.
01:20:53More recently another platform technology
01:20:55company we were thinking about indications.
01:20:58I was able to go to the leadership
01:21:01of the Cancer Center and say,
01:21:03listen,
01:21:04would it be possible for me to
01:21:06get together three or four basic
01:21:09researchers and cancer in this
01:21:11area and just to have a sit down?
01:21:13Or we could throw out ideas and really
01:21:16whiteboard things and really allowed
01:21:18for this nascent company to be able
01:21:21to have again real world interactions.
01:21:23And so it makes for a I think a
01:21:26very unique place here at you.
01:21:31Fair City, any any comments?
01:21:33You know in regard to, you know,
01:21:36some of your collaborative experiences. Sure,
01:21:39I think your Cancer Center.
01:21:41It's a wonderful place in I have so many
01:21:45different experts experts in collectively.
01:21:48We basically cover the entire
01:21:50cancer expertise in this place
01:21:53and you can basically find the.
01:21:56Conditions and basic scientists in.
01:21:59Physician scientists across
01:22:01the board and no matter what
01:22:03cancer type you trying to?
01:22:05Only in order to discuss with.
01:22:08Really, truly collaborative
01:22:09environment over here.
01:22:13In, say, anything that so I would second
01:22:16all that has been said before,
01:22:18and I think one of the things that
01:22:21we've been primarily interested in
01:22:23is we know that our strategy can be
01:22:26used to treat drug resistance and the
01:22:29opportunity to get patient samples
01:22:31so that we can make patient derived
01:22:33xenograft models has been really
01:22:36instrumental for us to kind of see
01:22:38whether or not we have functional
01:22:41activity in drug resistant tumors.
01:22:44That's great, thanks birthday.
01:22:46So we do have a question from
01:22:50the audience. Alexander Let's
01:22:53see if we can get you activated.
01:22:56Yeah, hi. Can
01:22:57anyone hear me?
01:22:58Yeah we can hear.
01:23:01OK, thank you.
01:23:02Thank you everybody for coming together.
01:23:05It's been really, really exciting.
01:23:06So my question is open anyone on the panel?
01:23:10I'm just curious about the broad
01:23:12cultural differences between
01:23:13industry and academia specifically.
01:23:15Do you ever have or see very successful
01:23:18academic scientists and clinicians who,
01:23:20for personality reasons experience
01:23:21a lot of friction in their
01:23:24involvement with industry?
01:23:25And Conversely,
01:23:25what kinds of personality traits do
01:23:28you think predict maybe a smoother
01:23:30transition from academia to industry?
01:23:33Well, open that up. I love the question.
01:23:41Thank you for it.
01:23:43I think about it all the time.
01:23:46I think a big one of the biggest differences.
01:23:51Is the mindset around risk taking?
01:23:58In academia, it's OK to like place a lot
01:24:01of bets and be wrong most of the time.
01:24:04Learn some interesting things along the way.
01:24:07Get some publications,
01:24:08even if you're wrong.
01:24:10I'm referring to even like clinical
01:24:12publications, posters that said.
01:24:13An industry you're accumulating a track
01:24:16record always the things that you,
01:24:18the projects that you launch
01:24:20and work on have to work.
01:24:23You need to see patient results and you
01:24:25can't just take Flyers all the time.
01:24:27It's kind of like being a
01:24:29movie producer in Hollywood.
01:24:30Like if you the last movie you make
01:24:32if nobody comes with the box office,
01:24:34you don't get to make another movie.
01:24:36Not saying it says I don't think
01:24:38it says reductive is that quite?
01:24:40I mean this we have a high
01:24:42failure rate in this business,
01:24:44but if you're just somebody who places bets
01:24:46because it's someone elses money and like.
01:24:48There's a very common academic behavior of,
01:24:51like, you know, I'm just.
01:24:53It's not my money.
01:24:54I'll learn some science.
01:24:56It's an option.
01:24:57Benefit goes well.
01:24:58In the upside,
01:24:59if it's on the downside,
01:25:00who cares?
01:25:01I'll move on to the next thing
01:25:03like that's a very I'll just say
01:25:05that's a more academic mindset,
01:25:07and the more industry mindset is like no,
01:25:09this I'm bringing all my best relationships
01:25:12and credibility to bear on this one project.
01:25:14Better, better work,
01:25:15better work and patience.
01:25:17Better ultimately,
01:25:17hopefully become an approved
01:25:19product that turns into a marketed
01:25:21medicine for patients like that,
01:25:22shift in mind is like.
01:25:24Very stark and I see a lot of folks
01:25:26who come in industry sort of mid
01:25:29and late career from academia,
01:25:31and they think that they'll come
01:25:33in be sort of a non high voice
01:25:36of logic and science and reason.
01:25:38The resident expert and be sort of
01:25:40off the hook on the harder parts of
01:25:43being right and on the harder parts of
01:25:46actually executing against the plan.
01:25:48And those folks don't do as well either,
01:25:51so I think both on like being
01:25:53right about your convictions.
01:25:55As well as being a contributor to
01:25:57the execution against the plan,
01:25:58those are the two behaviors
01:26:00that define success in industry,
01:26:02where in academia there needs
01:26:03to be room for failure.
01:26:05There needs to be room for exploration
01:26:07in multiple ideas and moving on
01:26:09to the next project to keep the
01:26:11academic mission moving forward.
01:26:12And I'm not judging one or the other,
01:26:15but they're they're not
01:26:16interchangeable in terms of behavior.
01:26:24Thanks Josh, anyone from the
01:26:27panel. Make a comma. Yeah,
01:26:30I'll just add 'cause I know
01:26:32we're running out of time,
01:26:33but you know in in recent years
01:26:35I I feel like I'm learning.
01:26:37Sometimes the friction 'cause we all.
01:26:39I think we've seen it I personally,
01:26:41but derive some sort of maybe
01:26:42insecurity on what we think. We know.
01:26:44What we don't know and this is
01:26:46really everyone involved in the drug
01:26:47development and I think very important
01:26:49principle is that from the process of
01:26:51just the molecule to getting it into
01:26:53a patient to then caring for that
01:26:55patient for several years afterwards.
01:26:57Every step of that process
01:26:58is enormously complex,
01:26:59and I thought I knew.
01:27:00A lot is an MD PhD work in
01:27:02the lab and in the clinic,
01:27:04and with Brexit going in
01:27:05the clinic this spring,
01:27:07you know unbelievably newfound
01:27:08respect for how difficult it
01:27:10is to get a drug just into the
01:27:11Ind and into a clinical trial.
01:27:13So I think really understanding
01:27:15and mutual respect often will
01:27:16stave off some of some of that
01:27:18friction in my opinion.
01:27:21Thanks Ron G. OK, so we are running
01:27:24up against the Clock here so again,
01:27:26thanks for the conversation.
01:27:28It's been great,
01:27:29sorry bout some of the disruptions,
01:27:31but hopefully you know we've been
01:27:33able to gather most questions.
01:27:35What I'd like to do right now
01:27:37is just turn the microphone over
01:27:39to Charlie Fuchs again just for
01:27:41a few closing remarks from him.
01:27:54Charlie please unmute.
01:27:56Sorry, sorry I want to thank him for
01:27:59running a phenomenal panel and all
01:28:01the panelists for great discussion.
01:28:03I think it was really instructive
01:28:06in terms of the science and frankly
01:28:08the challenges of what I think is
01:28:11at the forefront of cancer therapy.
01:28:13I also want to apologize to all panelists
01:28:16and the audience on the disruptions,
01:28:19and I can assure you that we are
01:28:21going to make sure that we don't
01:28:24experience a similar disruption.
01:28:26Again, I hope you all will use
01:28:28this as an opportunity to advance
01:28:30what was been a great conversation,
01:28:33because as I say,
01:28:34we want to build partnerships.
01:28:36I think you've heard today about the
01:28:38challenges of those partnerships
01:28:40and we want to make them smooth
01:28:42and successful because ultimately
01:28:44to really advance cancer therapy,
01:28:46it's going to require a community,
01:28:48so please feel free to reach out
01:28:50to me to the panelists.
01:28:52We hope this is the beginning
01:28:54of a conversation.
01:28:55In addition, I hope you'll all join us again.
01:28:58On Wednesday, December 9th,
01:29:00at 1:00 o'clock,
01:29:01when are third in the series of Yale engage,
01:29:04cancer will be defining mechanisms
01:29:06and biomarkers of sensitivity
01:29:08and resistance to anti cancer
01:29:10treatments and then finally,
01:29:11it just want to once again thank Tim.
01:29:14Tim is Tim Shannon is a member of the
01:29:17board of our Our Cancer Center and
01:29:19has been really a great supporter
01:29:22of all that we do and including
01:29:25running today's session and Tim,
01:29:26I'll turn it over you for
01:29:28the final closing remarks.
01:29:30Thanks
01:29:30Charlie, thanks very much.
01:29:32Again, yeah, so just let me extend thanks
01:29:34to the audience to our faculty panelists.
01:29:37Special thanks to Josh for carving out
01:29:39time of his day. Josh, we hope to.
01:29:42To see more and more here around Yale again,
01:29:45all I can say is you know,
01:29:48like most people on the call,
01:29:50this is my passion of trying
01:29:52to do hard things and.
01:29:54You know getting him into
01:29:56humans and hopefully making
01:29:57a difference in humans lives,
01:30:00so it's a great community to be part of.
01:30:04Yale's got great things going on.
01:30:06It is easy place to engage with so
01:30:09you know in reflection of the name of
01:30:13the event would encourage all of you.
01:30:16Again, we're interested to
01:30:17engage with Yale Cancer Center.
01:30:20Try to do some important things.
01:30:21No thanks everyone,
01:30:22and with that will sign off.