Back Bay Life Science Report Jonathan P. Gertler and Peter Bak

Guests: Pete Bak and Christian Thienel
 
Length: 27 minutes
 
In this episode of The Life Science Report, Dr. Pete Bak and Back Bay Director, Christian Thienel catch up on the area attracting the most industry interest over the past couple of years: the anti-obesity space.
 
From big players looking to capitalize on the renewed interest in the obesity space to the staggering success of Novo Nordisk’s and Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 agonists (Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound) for glycemic control and weight loss, there’s a lot to cover.
 
Topics in this podcast include:
A brief introduction to glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonistsWhy GLP-1s’ popularity is skyrocketing as treatment for type 2 diabetes and obesityHow amylin and petrelintide (a long-acting amylin analogue) are being newly re-imagined for the obesity space, as well as muscle-targeted approaches like myostatin and activinsWhere BD and investor interest lies as these drugs are expected to have north of $150B in sales annually within the next decadeWhat’s happening in early to late-stage drug developmentWhat the future holds for this sector, possibly to include cannabinoid one receptor inverse agonists and mitochondrial targets for metabolic disease 
As always, thank you for joining us. Did you know we welcome listener questions? If there any areas you’d like us to explore further in metabolic disease and obesity, please let us know. Submit your questions here. Our Nordic-American Healthcare Conference 2025 will feature metabolic track. Learn more: https://nordicamericanhealthcareconference.com/
 
You can find previous episodes of the podcast here.

Welcome to another episode with the DNB//Back Bay Partnership for Healthcare.
In this episode Jonathan Gertler, Back Bay CEO and Managing Partner, is once again joined by James Cirenza, Head of Fixed Income and Equities at DNB, Kristoffer Braaten, Director of US Equity Capital Markets at DNB, and Vasilios Kofitsas, Managing Director of Investment Banking at Back Bay Life Science Advisors, to talk about current market dynamics and the 2024 IPO outlook in the US and in Europe.
Topics in this podcast include:
Trends, cycles and the current state of capital markets in Europe and the USIPO performance for Q1 2024 vs. previous yearsTop characteristics of companies well-suited to go public and be successfulIPO market dynamics in Europe vs. the USExpectations and advice for companies contemplating going publicAs always we welcome listener questions and/or topics you’d like to learn more about.
You can listen to previous episodes here or submit your inquiries to info@bblsa.com.
Learn more about the DNB//Back Bay Partnership and read our disclaimers at https://www.bblsa.com/dnb-back-bay-partnership.

Guests: Pete Bak and Christian Thienel
 
Length: 37 minutes
 
With the advent of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021, we saw a tremendous amount of interest in not only COVID vaccines, but other companies riding the tailwind and developing vaccine therapies that span across viral illness, maternal infections and bacterial infections.
 
In this episode resident immunologist Dr. Pete Bak and Christian Thienel discuss vaccine technology, up-and-coming areas of interest, such as RSV, and the vaccines currently in late-stage clinical development.
 
Topics in this podcast include:
 
Vaccine technology, vaccine types and their varying levels of durabilityThe ongoing interest of vaccine development for RSV, including data from GSK’s Arexvy and Pfizer’s Abrysvo vaccinesHow recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) influence commercial dynamicsThe interesting chess game of scheduling vaccines as they relate to COVID, flu and RSV (seasonality versus strains and antigens) Vaccine development and data as it applies to Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein-Barr (EBV)News from the bacterial front: MinervaX leading the way with a maternal vaccine against Group B streptococcus infections with a very large series B round for $54M; Pfizer’s recent Prevnar 20 against pneumococcal pneumoniaPricing, reimbursement and the interplay with ACIP guidelines 
As always, we welcome listener questions and/or topics you’d like to learn more about.
 
You can listen to previous episodes here or submit your inquiries here.

A Podcast Discussion on the Trends and Investment Activity in Radiopharmaceuticals and Psychedelics
Guests: Pete Bak and Christian ThienelLength: 25 minutes
Here at Back Bay we’ve seen a number of notable trends in the radiopharmaceutical and psychedelic spaces playing out over the past couple of years. Increasingly, investors have been asking our opinions and perspectives on these topics.
Our team has written these whitepapers to address industry interest:
The Radiopharmaceutical Renaissance: Radiating Hope in MedicineVision of Commercial Success: Investment and Partnering Landscape for Psychedelics
In this episode, Dr. Pete Bak and Christian Thienel talk through the uptick of activity in these focus areas and discuss where the future of radiopharmaceuticals and psychedelics might be heading.
Topics in this podcast include:
A brief introduction into the history of radiation and radiopharmaWhy the early promise of first-generation radiopharmaceuticals like Zevalin and Bexxar didn’t turn out to be as commercially successfulKey advancements in manufacturing and production for second-generation products like Xofigo, Lutathera and PluvictoThe “theranostic” (therapeutic and diagnostic) potential of radiopharmaceuticalsThe growing investment and R&D support for psychedelics from private companies and academics, especially with the Otsuka and Mindset acquisition for $80M in 2023Realities within the new paradigm of novel treatments and patient/provider protocols adhering to the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation StrategyThe evolving nature of the antibacterial space and some notable financing deals, three within two months (Antabio, Clarimedix and Revagenix)Listen to the full episode here.

As we move into 2024, Back Bay’s strategic advisors summarize key product approvals from three classes and indications over this past year, including the December CRISPR and Vertex approval of Exa-cel, Biogen and Sage’s August approval of an oral treatment for women with postpartum depression and Genmab and Roche’s May approval in oncology.  
 
In this episode:  
CRISPR and Vertex’s approval of Exa-cel, the first CRISPR-based genetic medicine approved by the FDA in the US The major depressive disorder vs. postpartum depression for Biogen/Sage GenMab and Roche approvals AbbVie acquisition of Cerevel Therapeutics strengthen neuroscience pipeline In 2023, on The Life Science Report, Back Bay covered a wide range of topics featuring stories from the frontline of healthcare development to the rising trends in cardiology to the transactional landscape of antibody drug conjugates. We always welcome listener questions or topics you’d like to learn more about. You can listen to previous episodes or submit your inquiries here.  

Back Bay provides a snapshot of the healthcare markets every Monday. For IPO, Follow-On and M&A updates, subscribe to our healthcare updates. 

In our latest podcast, Back Bay Life Science Advisors focused on the chronic and rare disease development of kidney disease. Recently, there have been some changes in treatment, some recent commercial launches and certainly some interest from pharma consolidators, as M&A activity picks up in this area.
 
In this next installment of The Life Science Report, Dr. Pete Bak and Christian Thienel of Back Bay Life Science Advisors talk about kidney disease and the various aspects of the renal disease landscape.
 
Topics in this podcast include:
The links between cardio and metabolic diseases and the therapeutic approaches and label expansions taking place in the renal disease landscapeHistoric evolutions beyond Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), from rare diseases to all types of indications of CKDUnderstanding potential treatment priorities when some therapies have benefits in multiple indicationsRecent deals, including Novartis’ acquisition of Chinook Therapeutics and Novo Nordisk’s acquisition of KBP Biosciences’ ocedurenone, etc. The impact of Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2s (SGLT2s) in kidney disease over the last ~5 years, and how that has precipitated broader interest in renal indications across the industry