The Long Run with Luke Timmerman

→ WHAT IT COVERS Mathai Mammen, CEO of Parabolas Medicines, details how the company uses stabilized alpha helical peptides incorporating over 3,000 synthetic amino acids to drug previously inaccessible intracellular proteins. The conversation covers the science behind targeting beta catenin and TCF, early clinical results in desmoid tumors showing 74% objective response rate, and plans following a record $770M biotech IPO in 2026.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Gary Nabel, CEO of MODEX Therapeutics, describes how decades of virology research at NIH and Sanofi led to a bivalent Epstein-Barr virus vaccine now in Phase 1 trials with Merck partner. The candidate targets two distinct cell-entry pathways to block both B-cell and epithelial-cell infection, potentially preventing mononucleosis, EBV-associated cancers, and autoimmune diseases including multiple sclerosis.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Jason Coloma, CEO of Maze Therapeutics, traces the company's path from a $190M Third Rock-backed startup to a newly public biotech with two phase two kidney disease programs — APOL1-directed therapy and SLC6A19 — built on human genetics datasets including UK Biobank and FinnGen to identify novel small molecule drug targets. → KEY INSIGHTS - **Genetics-first target selection:** Maze identifies drug targets by mining large population genetics databases — UK Biobank, FinnGen — to...

→ WHAT IT COVERS Avalon Pharma CEO Lyn Baranowski explains how the company reformulates two approved oral pulmonary fibrosis drugs — pirfenidone and nintedanib — into inhaled versions delivered via handheld nebulizer, reducing doses by up to 97% while achieving 27x higher lung tissue exposure, targeting the 70% of IPF patients currently untreated due to intolerable side effects. → KEY INSIGHTS - **Oral drug tolerability gap:** Only 30% of the 300,000 annual U.S.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Heather Turner, CEO of LB Pharmaceuticals, traces her path from environmental law to biotech executive, culminating in Carmot Therapeutics' $2.7B Roche acquisition. She now leads LB Pharmaceuticals through late-stage development of LB102, a methylated amisulpride derivative targeting schizophrenia, bipolar depression, and adjunctive major depressive disorder.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Troy Wilson, cofounder and CEO of Kura Oncology, traces the path from a mediocre student in Palos Verdes to leading a company that achieved FDA approval in November 2025 for zifdomenib (COMZIFTI), a menin inhibitor for NPM1-mutant AML, while building a second program pairing farnesyltransferase inhibitor darlofarnib with RAS inhibitors for pancreatic cancer.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Sri Kosuri, cofounder and CEO of Octant Bio, describes how the company builds oral small molecule correctors targeting protein misfolding and mistrafficking across rare diseases, cancers, and metabolic disorders. Their lead compound OCT-980 entered phase one trials in March 2025 for rhodopsin-associated autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa, a progressive blindness condition affecting roughly 20,000 patients in the US and EU.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Becky Pferdehirt, CEO of Radial at the Astera Institute, explains how a $500M philanthropic commitment aims to fix structural failures across academia, industry, and venture capital by building open-source data infrastructure, rethinking publication incentives, and creating the data conditions necessary for AI to advance biological understanding.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Jeremy Levin, founder of Ovid Therapeutics and past BIO chairman, outlines why U.S. biotech faces a structural crisis of public distrust—tracing the decline from Martin Shkreli's 2015 price gouging through COVID vaccine backlash—and presents 10 concrete commitments companies can adopt to rebuild credibility and secure the industry's strategic future.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Richard Pops, 35-year CEO of Alkermes, discusses the company's late-stage development of elixirexant, an orexin-2 receptor agonist targeting narcolepsy type 1, with potential expansion into ADHD, MS fatigue, and Parkinson's. He also addresses mid-sized biopharma policy threats, including IRA pricing reforms, most-favored-nation pricing, and the rising competitive pressure from China.

→ WHAT IT COVERS University of Illinois chemistry professor Martin Burke explains how his block chemistry platform—using iterative carbon-carbon bond formation to synthesize small molecules modularly—enables full automation and AI integration. His startup Excelsior Sciences raised $95M to compress drug discovery cycle times from months to weeks, while his academic lab pursues antifungal and iron-transport therapeutics now in Phase 2 trials.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Abbas Kazimi, CEO of Nimbus Therapeutics, describes how a 70-person team with no labs used computational chemistry to discover zazositinib, a TYK2 inhibitor sold to Takeda for $4B upfront in 2022. He outlines the capital-efficient hub-and-spoke LLC model, target selection discipline, and culture that enabled two blockbuster exits across 17 years.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Viswa Colluru, founder and CEO of Envita, describes how he built a Boulder-based natural product drug discovery company from $55,000 in personal savings to a $1 billion valuation with $517 million raised, three candidates in clinical trials, and a platform that produces development candidates 4x faster than industry average with an 11x higher success rate.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Otello Stampacchia, founder of Omega Funds, outlines the structural and financial barriers holding back European biotech, where companies receive only 7% of global venture capital versus 63% for the US, and describes the European Life Sciences Coalition's advocacy strategy to mobilize capital, harmonize public markets, and accelerate clinical trial frameworks across the continent. → KEY INSIGHTS - **Capital allocation gap:** European pension funds invest approximately 0.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Ken Song, CEO of Candid Therapeutics, explains how bispecific T-cell engaging antibodies could deliver CAR-T-like immune resets for autoimmune diseases at scale. The San Diego startup raised $370M, licensed two clinical-stage assets from China, and has now treated over 60 autoimmune patients across 10 disease indications in under 18 months.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Stanford immunologist and physician-scientist Ansu Satpathy discusses how single-cell genomics and multi-omic tools are reshaping cancer immunotherapy and autoimmune drug discovery. He covers his path from Midwest public schools through MD-PhD training to founding Cartography Biosciences, Santa Ana Bio, and Immuni, while arguing US academic innovation still outpaces Chinese biotech pipelines in breakthrough potential.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Ron Renaud, CEO of Kailera Therapeutics, explains how his company is building a GLP-1 obesity drug portfolio around licensed assets from China's Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals. With $1 billion raised and Phase 3 trials underway, Kailera's lead injectable candidate targets patients with BMI above 35, aiming for best-in-class weight loss by 2029.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Kate Haviland, former CEO of Blueprint Medicines, traces the company's evolution from a precision oncology startup to a precision immunology leader, culminating in Sanofi's $9.1 billion acquisition in 2025. The episode covers how Blueprint pivoted from rare cancers to systemic mastocytosis, achieving 75-80% response rates and building a commercially durable franchise.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Emily Conley, CEO of Renaissance Bio, explains how the company is developing oral small molecule correctors and potentiators to treat autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), a genetic condition affecting 300,000 patients in the US and Europe, by targeting the polycystin protein complex using a framework borrowed from cystic fibrosis drug development.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Neil Kumar, founder and CEO of BridgeBio Pharma, details how he built a rare disease drug company using a hub-and-spoke portfolio model starting in 2015 with $7M. The company now has one blockbuster drug generating $108M in a single quarter, with two additional programs showing strong phase three clinical results. → KEY INSIGHTS - **Hub-and-Spoke Portfolio Design:** BridgeBio structures each drug program as a separate subsidiary with its own focused disease team, while...