The BioHub - by Avetix

Episode 178 - Kevin Finney - Chairman, President and CEO at Autobahn Therapeutics

34 min · 22. maj 2026
episode Episode 178 - Kevin Finney - Chairman, President and CEO at Autobahn Therapeutics cover

Beskrivelse

In this episode, Ben sits down with Kevin Finney, President and CEO of Autobahn Therapeutics, for a conversation on biotech leadership, CNS drug development, and what it takes to build companies around difficult but high-impact areas of medicine. Kevin brings deep experience across company formation, financing, business development, and exits, including leadership roles at Abide Therapeutics, which was acquired by Lundbeck, and Zavante Therapeutics, which was later acquired by Nabriva. We discussed his career journey, the lessons learned from building and selling biotech companies, and why CNS remains one of the most challenging but important areas for therapeutic innovation. The conversation also explores Autobahn’s work in neuropsychiatry, including its focus on developing differentiated treatments for depression and related CNS disorders, as well as the strategic decisions that shape clinical development, team building, and long-term value creation. A thoughtful discussion on leadership, translational science, and the realities of advancing new medicines in neuroscience.

Kommentarer

0

Vær den første til at kommentere

Tilmeld dig nu og bliv en del af The BioHub - by Avetix-fællesskabet!

Kom i gang

1 måned kun 9 kr.

Derefter 99 kr. / måned · Opsig når som helst

  • Podcasts kun på Podimo
  • 20 lydbogstimer pr. måned
  • Gratis podcasts

Alle episoder

230 episoder

episode Episode 203 - Tim Noyes - CEO of Newleos Therapeutics cover

Episode 203 - Tim Noyes - CEO of Newleos Therapeutics

In this episode of The BioHub Podcast, Ben is joined by Tim Noyes, President and CEO of Newleos Therapeutics. Tim reflects on more than 35 years across the life sciences industry, from beginning his career at Merck to building and leading emerging biotechnology companies. He shares why he has consistently been drawn to smaller organisations, where leadership teams can remain close to the science, the patients and the people driving the company forward. The conversation explores Newleos’ mission to rethink the treatment of anxiety and other neuropsychiatric conditions through a pipeline of differentiated GABA-A receptor modulators originally licensed from Roche. Tim discusses the opportunity to retain the therapeutic benefits associated with GABA modulation while overcoming the limitations of traditional benzodiazepines, including the company’s clinical programmes in generalised anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder. They also discuss the importance of patient access, the challenges of reimbursement in the US healthcare system, and why humility, appreciation and a people-focused culture are central to Tim’s approach to leadership.

20. juli 202626 min
episode Episode 202 - Ben Swanson - CEO of Skeletalis cover

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

16. juli 202633 min
episode Episode 201 - Bennett Smith - SVP Commercial Beren Therapeutics cover

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.

14. juli 202623 min