Bahija Jallal, Immunocore 🇬🇧 | Commercial, Diversity, and AI | E14 Flot.bio x Philip Hemme

We’re super privileged to chat online with Bahija Jallal, the CEO of Immunocore. Immunocore is the largest biotech in the UK and the 5th largest in Europe with a market cap of just over 3 billion dollars. We talk about how Immunocore has helped thousands of cancer patients and has become a commercial biotech. We also talk about why she thinks gender and race diversity are a business case and how AI is changing protein and biologics engineering.

💎 ABOUT THE SPEAKER
I’ve “known” Bahija for over 10 years, after reading her profile in a student pharma magazine when I was studying bioengineering in France. At that time, she was head of MedImmune and SVP R&D at AstraZeneca. Now as the CEO of Immunocore, with their pioneering T cell receptor platform, she has helped to bring incredible treatments for cancer patients to market.

🔗 LINKS MENTIONED

- Bahija on the Breakthrough Labs podcast - https://open.spotify.com/episode/2X4xedUdJid9GeioRSkCrP?si=39d8c7511aab443f
- Immatics builds on its PRAME Success (and competes with Immunocore) - [OncologyPipeline.com](https://www.oncologypipeline.com/apexonco/immatics-builds-its-prame-success)

📜 TRANSCRIPT
Read the full transcript here:

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⏰ TIMESTAMPS

[00:00:00] Intro

[00:00:34] Welcome

[00:01:46] Immunocore’s life-changing cancer drug

[00:07:40] Commercializing Immunocore

[00:13:46] Explaining the TCR technology

[00:20:40] Targeting tumors with PRAME

[00:23:26] Immunocore now and then

[00:35:37] Why Bahija chose Immunocore

[00:40:22] Top lessons from Bahija Jallal

[00:45:48] How is risk appetite connected to innovation?

[00:49:10] Diversity in biotech

[01:00:59] Biological innovation

[01:05:49] AI in protein engineering optimization

[01:14:42] Thanks for listening