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26
Feb
2023

The Success of Your Tech Deployment Depends On A Role You’ve Probably Never Heard Of 

The success or failure of many technology platforms — including in particular health tech platforms — rests with a largely obscure role of outsized importance: the “solutions engineer.”  The role itself goes by many names. Back when I was at DNAnexus in the mid-2010s, this role was called “Solutions Scientist.” Others call it “Forward-Deployed Engineer” or “Embedded Analyst.” Whatever the...
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14
Feb
2023

Engineered B-Cell Therapies for Cancer & Rare Diseases: Joanne Smith-Farrell on The Long Run

Today’s guest on The Long Run is Joanne Smith-Farrell. Joanne is the CEO of Cambridge, Mass.-based Be Biopharma. Many listeners of this show are familiar with the explosion of activity in cell therapy. Engineered T cell therapies have delivered extraordinary results for people with certain types of cancer. The success in these personalized T cell therapies, which get modified outside...
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9
Feb
2023

First, We Need to Generate the Right Data. Then AI Will Shine

ChatGPT is a hot topic across many industries. Some say the technology underpinning it – called generative AI – has created an “A.I. arms race.” However, relatively little attention is given to what is needed to fully leverage the promise of generative AI in healthcare, and specifically how it may help accelerate drug discovery and development. That’s a mistake. Recently,...
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4
Feb
2023

Grand Défi Ou Goulot D’étranglement Ultime: A French Pharma Tackles Data Science

Most biopharma companies have started down the path of digital transformation – a fundamental overhaul of everything they do for the digital age. It’s not clear yet that anyone has arrived at the desired destination. Even so, there have been some early wins, generally related to operations, as the CEOs of both Novartis and Lilly have described. Arguably, the most...
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2
Feb
2023

When Life-Saving Medicines Are Ammunition in a Trade War

In early January, I held a telemedicine visit with a patient who reported a positive at-home COVID test and mild shortness of breath. During the visit, I looked through her health conditions and medications and decided that it was appropriate to prescribe Paxlovid. Later that day, she received the prescription from her local pharmacy, free of charge. Afterwards, I called...
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1
Feb
2023

A Biotech Journalism Outlet Built to Last: Rick Berke on The Long Run

Today’s guest on The Long Run is Rick Berke. Rick is the co-founder and executive editor of STAT. Just about everyone who listens to The Long Run probably already reads STAT. If you don’t, you should. It’s become a go-to publication for breaking news, features, and in-depth investigative reporting across the world of biotech and healthcare. John Henry, the billionaire...
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30
Jan
2023

Generative AI: No Humbug

In 1845, dentist Horace Wells stood before Harvard medical students and faculty, eager to demonstrate the utility of nitrous oxide – laughing gas – as a general anesthetic.  Wells tried it out on a patient who needed  a tooth extraction. The dose, it turned out, wasn’t enough. The patient screamed in agony.  As described by Paul Offit in You Bet...
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24
Jan
2023

Biotech Needs to Get Back to Work in Person. Now.

Companies at the frontiers of science and medicine, developing new therapies for patients, are working on one of the most challenging endeavors known to humanity. Most would agree it’s more difficult than putting a man on the moon. The pandemic created a dramatic disruption to our globally networked economy. It will have far-ranging and long-lasting repercussions. It started with quarantine....
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19
Jan
2023

From Computational Discovery to a New Psoriasis Drug: Jeb Keiper on The Long Run

Today’s guest on The Long Run is Jeb Keiper. Jeb is the CEO of Boston-based Nimbus Therapeutics. Nimbus made news in December 2022 when it sold its experimental Tyk2 inhibitor to Takeda Pharmaceuticals for $4 billion upfront and $2 billion in potential milestones. The drug’s value skyrocketed when it hit the primary endpoint of a Phase 2b clinical trial for...
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