Episode 202 - Ben Swanson - CEO of Skeletalis

Episode 202 - Ben Swanson - CEO of Skeletalis

Today we're joined by Ben Swanson, Founder and CEO of Skeletalis, a biotechnology company developing a new generation of precision medicines for bone disease. Ben's path into biotech is anything but conventional. Trained as both a dentist and a scientist, he founded Skeletalis to tackle one of the biggest unmet challenges in musculoskeletal health: how to deliver treatments directly to the parts of the skeleton that need them most, while minimizing effects on the rest of the body. At Skeletalis, Ben and his team have developed the OASIS platform—a targeted drug delivery approach designed to direct therapies to sites of active bone remodeling. Their lead focus is osteoporosis, a disease affecting hundreds of millions of people worldwide, with the potential to transform how bone diseases are treated in the future. In this conversation, we'll explore Ben's journey from academia to entrepreneurship, what it takes to build a biotech company from groundbreaking research, the future of precision medicine, and why solving bone health could have a profound impact on healthy aging

Episode 201 - Bennett Smith - SVP Commercial Beren Therapeutics

In this episode of The BioHub Podcast, Max sits down with Bennett Smith, Senior Vice President of Commercial at Beren Therapeutics. Bennett has spent more than two decades building commercial organisations and bringing innovative medicines to patients, holding leadership roles at Novo Nordisk, Regeneron, Akebia, and Orchard Therapeutics, where he helped launch one of the world's most expensive gene therapies. Today, he's leading commercial strategy at Beren Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech taking a different approach to developing treatments for rare diseases. In this conversation, we discuss Bennett's journey through biotech, why commercial thinking should begin long before launch, the story behind Beren's emergence from stealth, and what it takes to build a successful commercial organisation from the ground up. We also explore the future of rare disease innovation and why aligning science and commercial strategy from day one can make all the difference.

Episode 200 - Tassos Gianakakos & Liz Nguyen - Kardigan

What's the right team to build a precision cardiovascular biopharma company? In this episode Tassos Gianakakos CEO and Chief People Officer Liz Nguyen discuss how Kardigan is thinking about talent, culture, and the capabilities required to bring precision medicine to cardiovascular disease.

Episode 199 - Miles Gerson - Partner at SV Health Investors and Co-Lead of The Dementia Discovery Fund

In this episode of The BioHub Podcast, Ben sits down with Miles Gerson, Partner at SV Health Investors and Co-Lead of the Dementia Discovery Fund. Miles shares his perspective on investing in neuroscience, building companies around emerging biology and identifying approaches with the potential to change the treatment landscape in dementia and neurodegenerative disease. The conversation explores how the Dementia Discovery Fund assesses scientific risk, what makes a neuroscience company investable, where the strongest opportunities are emerging, and how investors can help translate promising research into viable therapeutic companies. Miles also discusses the evolution of dementia drug development, the role of company creation and what the next generation of successful neuroscience businesses will need to get right.

Episode 198 - Andrew Obenshain - CEO Inventiva

In this episode of The BioHub Podcast, Max sits down with Andrew Obenshain, CEO of Inventiva. Andrew brings more than 20 years of experience across global drug development, regulatory strategy, and commercialization. Before joining Inventiva, he led bluebird bio through its transformation into a global commercial-stage gene therapy company and previously held senior leadership roles at Shire and Genzyme. Inventiva is a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company developing oral therapies for patients with significant unmet medical needs, with its lead program focused on MASH (metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis). In this conversation, we discuss Andrew's journey through global biotech leadership, why he chose to lead a French biotech company, the challenges of running a late-stage clinical business, and what makes Inventiva's approach so exciting. We also explore the strengths of the European biotech ecosystem, the milestones ahead for Inventiva, and the leadership lessons Andrew has learned throughout his career.