The Drug Discovery World Podcast

In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business. In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Steve Worland, CEO of eFFECTOR. eFFECTOR is a company targeting three distinct targets central to the eIF4F translation initiation complex: MNK, eIF4A and eIF4E. Each of these targets regulates distinct sets of genes in cancer and immune cells. Dr Worland has significant experience as a scientist and C-suite level executive/entrepreneur, and today speaks about how Selective Translation Regulator Inhibitors (STRIs) are unique to other cancer treatments, the future of the industry as well as the significance of pharma collaboration in the development process. You can find the Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.

The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates. The leading news story this week has been the launch of a new clinical trial in the UK for a melanoma personalised mRNA cancer vaccine, but there have been a number of other interesting developments in cancer drug discovery. These include the detection of new targets for skin cancer treatment, the benefits of vitamin D for cancer prevention, an extended approval in the EU for a CAR-T myeloma therapy and the discovery of an unusual source of targeted treatments.

This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “A look behind the scenes of the drug discovery industry” which covers three written for Volume 23 – Issue 4, Fall 2022 of DDW. They are called: Going paperless – the move to electronic lab notebooks, New horizon for cancer innovation, and A personal touch: the role of bioprinting in drug discovery. In the first article, Barry Bunin, PhD, CEO of Collaborative Drug Discovery explores the rise of electronic lab notebooks and why researchers should be transitioning to digital methods of recording data. In the second article, Reece Armstrong sits down with Cancer Research Horizons’ Chief Business Officer, Tony Hickson and CEO of its Therapeutics division, Hamish Ryder, to learn about the organisation’s goals. In the third article, DDW Editor, Reece Armstrong, sits down with Brinter CEO Tomi Kalpio to learn about the company’s approach to bioprinting and how it can be used throughout drug discovery. You can also find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.

The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates. The headline news this week all concerns clinical trials for new drugs that could have a significant impact on future patient treatment, including trials testing therapeutics for ALS, cystic fibrosis, gonorrhoea, TB and Parkinson’s. You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.

The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates. The cancer research news has been coming thick and fast from the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in San Diego this week, so this round-up focuses on drug discovery in oncology. You can to The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.

The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates. In another busy week for drug discovery and development, we have seen the FDA approval of a monoclonal antibody for emergency use in Covid-19, the launch of trials into innovative new treatments for urea cycle disorders and alcohol use disorder, and a significant acquisition for Novo Nordisk, as well as the discovery of a new way to target dormant cancer cells. You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.

This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “Flow cytometry for drug discovery research” which covers three written for Volume 23 – Issue 4, Fall 2022 of DDW. They are called: Flow cytometry technologies and cancer associated fibroblasts and Leveraging flow cytometry in drug discovery. In the first article, Dr Amber Miller, Flow Cytometry Scientist, Fortis Life Sciences, says flow cytometry techniques can help our understanding of cancer associated fibroblasts but there is still work to be done. In the second article, Dr Miguel A Tam, and Dr Kenta Yamamoto, BioLegend, examine the evolution, trends and best practices for smooth and efficient workflows for flow cytometry. You can also find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.

The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates. Following the recent AD/PD 2024 conference, which took place on 5-9 March in Lisbon, Portugal, there have been a number of key announcements regarding investigational therapies for neurological disorders, particularly Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.

In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business. In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Ahmed Mousa, CEO of Vicore Pharma. Vicore Pharma is exploring the potential of a new class of drug candidates, angiotensin II type 2 receptor agonists (ATRAGs), and here Mousa provides DDW with an overview of the company’s unique approach, its challenges, its opportunities, and its context in the scientific community. You can listen here, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.

The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates. It was antibodies hitting the headlines this week, with the discovery of antibodies with potential against a new influenza target, the launch of a Phase I trial to investigate a novel type of bispecific antibody, and the announcement that the FDA will delay approval of donanemab to hold a meeting of the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee. You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.

This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled: What trends will speed up the journey from clinic to bedside? It covers three articles written for Volume 23 – Issue 4, Fall 2022 of DDW. They are called: Sitting down with… PharmEnable, Is single-cell gene expression the next trend in next generation sequencing? and Preparing for new-era drug modalities with technology. In the first article, Reece Armstrong speaks to Natalia Mateu, Co-Founder, Jelena Aleksic, Co-Founder and Peter Curran, Chemoinformatics Scientist, about utilising 3D chemistry and AI to get small molecule therapies from the clinic to the bedside. In the second article, we hear from Dr Dina Finan, PhD, Product Manager at 10x Genomics and Dr Nick Downey, PhD, NGS Collaborations Lead at Integrated DNA Technologies. In the third article, Samsung Biologics’ Senior Vice President, James Park, explores the opportunities emerging for CDMOs to support mRNA developers as they explore new therapeutic areas for patients. You can also find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.

The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates. In a breakthrough for advanced therapies, this week saw the FDA approve the first ever cell therapy for solid tumour cancers, but there were other significant developments in the cell and gene therapy space. You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.

In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business. In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Quin Wills, Co-founder and CSO of Ochre Bio, a company whose scientists are working in collaboration with AI to unlock the potential of complex human liver data. Ochre's lab in Oxford takes different types of human cells from donor livers, which they combine to build components of the liver from scratch. These ‘bottom up’ models allow them to flexibly study the metabolic, cell death, inflammation, fibrosis, and neoplastic processes that occur throughout the liver disease trajectory. They are, in effect, trying to do the clinical trial before the clinical trial. You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.

The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates. This week our news highlights focus on skin conditions, with positive updates on hidradenitis suppurativa, systemic sclerosis, wound-healing, and other dermatological conditions like atopic dermatitis and vitiligo. You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.

For this year’s SLAS2024 conference in Boston (which takes place 3-7 February), DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates articles from the DDW SLAS2024 supplement as part of the DDW Events podcast series. This is episode five, Solving the diagnostic odyssey with multi-omics. Catherine Brownstein is an Assistant Professor in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and the Assistant Director of the Molecular Genetics Core Facility at Boston Children's Hospital. Her current work focuses on advancing the fields of genome sequencing and analysis, with an emphasis on identifying complex structural variation. She spoke with me on how genomics can advance drug discovery and development.

For this year’s SLAS2024 conference in Boston (which takes place 3-7 February), DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates articles from the DDW SLAS2024 supplement as part of the DDW Events podcast series. This is episode four, The building blocks of AI success stories. Dr Mike Tarselli, Chief Scientific & Knowledge Officer at TetraScience, was Scientific Director of SLAS until 2020, and will be chairing his first event this year. He shares his insight with me in this episode.

For this year’s SLAS2024 conference in Boston (which takes place 3-7 February), DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates articles from the DDW SLAS2024 supplement as part of the DDW Events podcast series. This is episode three, Connecting academia, industry and the public. Erin Welsh, PhD, is a disease ecologist and epidemiologist now working full-time as a science communicator. Erin Allmann Updyke, MD, PhD is an epidemiologist and disease ecologist currently in a medical residency programme to complete her training. Together, they make up This Podcast Will Kill You. Ahead of being a keynote speaker at SLAS 2024, Welsh shares insight with DDW.

For this year’s SLAS2024 conference in Boston (which takes place 3-7 February), DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates articles from the DDW SLAS2024 supplement as part of the DDW Events podcast series. This is episode two, Where is the Ignite Theater tech leading us? At this year's SLAS event, DDW has curated a track taking place in the Ignite Theater, sponsored by Integra Biosciences and Hamamatsu Corporation. It will explore technologies being used for drug discovery and how they get from lab to patient.

For this year’s SLAS2024 conference in Boston (which takes place 3-7 February), DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates articles from the DDW SLAS2024 supplement as part of the DDW Events podcast series. This is episode one, called, “A welcome to SLAS 2024”, which includes two comment pieces. Thomas wrote the first one, “The journey from lab to patient”, which focuses on the theme of the track curated by DDW taking place in the Ignite Theater at SLAS 2024. The second is from SLAS Director of Marketing & Communications, Jill Hronek, called “Innovation at every turn: Hello SLAS2024”, in which Hronek shares her enthusiasm for the opportunities, products, technologies and stories that this event brings together.

The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates. In the same week that it was revealed that breast cancer was the most studied disease area in 2023 for the third year running, there were a number of promising developments in the treatment of colorectal, pancreatic and lung cancer and leukaemia. You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.