C-Suite Speaks

In championing Forte Medical’s precision diagnostics technology to improve the quality of urine test samples, 2022 Rising Leader Giovanna Forte has often had to confront market access hurdles. It has not dented her drive to secure widespread adoption of money-saving and outcomes-boosting devices.

Policies, programs and strategies promoting diversity and inclusion are almost as ubiquitous in the pharmaceutical industry these days as environmental commitments. That reflects enormous cultural change over the last few generations, hastened in recent history by initiatives such as MeToo or Black Lives Matter.  

Nigerian start-up 54gene seeks to be the first private sector enterprise bent on applying Africa’s rich genetic heritage to solve the world’s most intractable diseases – ethically, without boundaries, for all.

VC Playbook: Partner at Third Rock Ventures, David Kaufman, talks to In Vivo about the venture capital firm’s company creation strategy and seeking ‘white space’ in biopharma for innovation. 

There is more to the Danish major than diabetes and Ludovic Helfgott gave In Vivo an insight to the firm’s ambitious plans for its renamed rare diseases division.

Clive Dix was awarded Scrip’s Lifetime Achievement honor jointly with his long-term colleague and friend Dame Kate Bingham in December 2021. With more than 30 years’ experience in pharma and biotech, Dix has seen the industry evolve and take on many challenges. He spoke to In Vivo about his career journey, the future of biotech and his expectations for 2022 – another year under the cloud of COVID-19.

The medtech industry’s successful response to the COVID-19 challenge has in some ways made the pre-pandemic years feel like a lifetime ago, in terms of service delivery. That was the consensus at a high-level Medtech Conference panel chaired by LEK consultancy group.

Sanofi’s general medicines business will embrace an omnichannel commercial model in 2022 to reduce inefficiencies and stabilize topline growth. Virtual sales reps are on the rise after a tough couple of years managing product promotion and launches online only. 

Concern looms in many countries as cases of COVID-19 continue to rise due to the delta variant. Vaccines are having a positive effect, but what is the outlook for those still vulnerable to the virus after inoculation? Not everyone will respond to vaccinations in the same way.

UK-based Immodulon Therapeutics is developing novel immunomodulators in the form of heat-killed bacteria, being trialed in combination with other cancer treatments such as checkpoint inhibitors. The biotech is initially looking at underserved areas, including pancreatic cancer.

We are at a pivotal point in the reassessment of our approach to innovation, with the value of ‘design thinking’ and an ‘iterative innovation approach’ becoming the most promising solutions to solving the scientific and biological challenges of the future.

Obtaining useful biological information from the enormous amount of health data available could reduce attrition rates, accelerate development timelines and optimize trial design.

Italy’s Enthera Pharmaceuticals is targeting a novel stem cell apoptosis pathway involved in several autoimmune diseases, with the aim of restoring cell and organ functions to their original state. The biotech recently closed a €35m series A financing round, the largest the country has seen to date.

CEO Umang Vohra outlines where Cipla is heading in its priority areas of lung route therapies and antimicrobial resistance. He also weighs in on the simmering issue of intellectual property waivers for COVID-19 vaccines.

Building a robotics infrastructure "is the only way to make sure we generate data of sufficient quality at the speed and scale required, and now everybody in the pharma industry is very excited about the idea of end-to-end automation." So says Martin-Immanuel Bittner, CEO of Arctoris.

Sweden-based Elicera Therapeutics is developing next-generation oncolytic viruses and “fourth-generation” CAR-T cells. CEO Jamal El-Mosleh sat down with In Vivo ahead of the company’s IPO.