The Future of Pharma

My guest in this episode is Michelle Davey. Michelle is currently serving as the CEO of Wheel Health. Under her guidance, Wheel has become the leading platform to connect qualified healthcare professionals with virtual care opportunities. Wheel's groundbreaking Horizon platform is Michelle's latest initiative, a cutting-edge solution that integrates artificial intelligence into healthcare delivery. She frequently speaks at industry conferences and contributes to discussions on the future of healthcare delivery, virtual care adoption, and the importance of leveraging technology to address healthcare disparities. Michelle was listed on the Fierce15 of leading healthcare innovators for 2025. In this conversation, Michelle and I discuss the evolution of telehealth and the challenges faced by the healthcare industry, particularly in terms of access and economics. She highlights the importance of innovative business models in making virtual care sustainable and the changing landscape of pharma's relationship with patients. Our discussion also delves into the growing consumer demand for healthcare services and the role of AI in enhancing healthcare delivery. Michelle shares her insights on the future of healthcare and the need for a balance between technology and human oversight. Takeaways: - Wheel was founded in 2018, before telehealth became mainstream. - Telehealth can bridge gaps in healthcare access, especially in rural areas. - The economics of healthcare need to be rebalanced for sustainability. - Pharma companies are exploring direct-to-patient channels more than ever. - Self-diagnosis poses significant challenges in the healthcare system. - AI can assist clinicians by summarizing patient data efficiently. - Consumer demand for healthcare is shifting towards virtual and direct access. - The rise of GLP-1 medications reflects changing consumer expectations. - AI will not replace doctors but will enhance their capabilities. - Building a strong company culture is essential in the age of AI. I found my chat with Michelle very enlightening. Hope you do too. Here's Michelle Davey.

My Guest in this episode is Dr. Dave Miller. Dave is CSO of AustinPx and leads the pharmaceutics and analytical development teams and oversees the application of the KinetiSol™ Technology. Prior to his current position, Dr. Miller served as Vice President of Research and Development at DisperSol Technologies and Senior Principal Scientist at Hoffmann-La Roche. Dr. Miller is a co-inventor of the pharmaceutical applications of the KinetiSol technology. He has published over 40 research articles in peer-reviewed journals, authored 8 book chapters, and is co-editor of the First, Second, and Third Editions of the textbook, Formulating Poorly Water-Soluble Drugs. He is a co-inventor on numerous granted and pending patents worldwide. Dr. Miller holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the University of Texas at Austin. In this conversation, Dave shares his extensive journey in pharmaceutical research and development, highlighting the evolution of drug delivery technologies, particularly Kinetisol. He discusses the challenges of transitioning from R&D to commercialization, the importance of precision medicine, and the complexities of manufacturing in the pharmaceutical industry. Dave emphasizes the need for innovative approaches to drug formulation and the role of emotional intelligence in professional success. I enjoyed my chat with Dr. Dave Miller. Hope you do too. Here's Dr. Dave Miller.

My guest in this episode is Nikkhil Masurkar. Nikkhil is the CEO of Entod Pharmaceuticals which is based in India. He is often called India's Eye Drops Man because Entod specializes in ophthalmic, ENT, and dermatological medicines. In this interview, Nikkil and I talked about how closely American and Indian pharma worlds are intertwined - 4 out of 10 prescriptions filled in the U.S. are supplied by Indian companies. They supply almost half of all generic prescriptions. This translates to a significant cost savings for the U.S. healthcare system - over $1.3 trillion in last 10 years alone. We also talked about - Why India is considered the 'Pharmacy of the World' - How Indian pharma companies can move beyond generics into high-value innovation - ⁠How Indian pharma can be a $450 billion industry by 2047 - How to balance affordability with innovation to ensure life-saving drugs reach more people - The biggest regulatory hurdles Indian pharma companies face when expanding in the USA And what all of it means for the American healthcare system, American pharma industry, and American patients. We also discussed important leadership lessons, one thing about the Indian pharma industry Nikkhil would change if he could, and what he reads, instead of books, that drives his personal outlook and Entod Pharmaceutical's culture. I enjoyed my discussion with Nikkhil about how closely American and Indian pharma industries are connected. I hope you do too. Here's Nikkil Masurkar.

My guest in this episode is Ray Jordan. Ray is Principal at Putnam Insights. Ray Jordan is a corporate affairs leader and reputational growth driver in healthcare, technology, biotechnology and consumer industries and has worked with or for companies such as Moderna, Amgen, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer. Ray has been recognized numerous times by industry sources such as PRWeek, and PRovoke Media. He has helped companies get recognized for high reputational status, including in such rankings by FORTUNE, Axios/Harris, Science Magazine, Dow Jones and others. In this candid interview about the pharmaceutical industry's image and reputation, Ray and I talk about: - What an image crisis looks like from a leader's point of view. - The current pharma reputation landscape and the Gallup poll. - Pharma industry wide efforts to address this. - Difference between big and small pharma reputation needs and - The relationship between reputation and market cap. If you're interested in how corporations, particularly pharma companies, manage their public image, reputation, and any public issues, this episode is for you. Here's Ray Jordan.

My guest in this episode is Rene Marcotte. Rene is Senior Vice President Life Sciences at RCM Technologies. Rene has nearly 40 years of experience as a data architect across multiple industries, including Life Sciences for the past 20 years. He has helped to lead and build over 40 data warehouses and analytic solutions, including for some of the largest and smallest pharmaceuticals. In this discussion, Rene and I talk about data aka the digital gold. Some of the topics we discussed are - The evolution of data over last few decades - Change in data hardware size and capabilities - How cloud has democratized the field for small and big companies - Necessity for an early data plan (pay now or pay much more later) - How end users use data to make better decisions and - What someone needs to work in data analytics. Data is a dry subject but Rene can make it interesting as he did in this interview. I hope you find it interesting too. Here's Rene Marcotte.

My guest in this episode is Scott Chetham. Scott is an experienced healthcare entrepreneur who is currently the CEO and co-founder of Faro Health. Scott leads the strategy for the Faro Health platform, which is designed to power clinical development by connecting data to decision making in a fundamentally new way. Previously, he was the Head of Clinical Research Operations and Data Management at Verily Life Sciences, formerly known as Google Life Sciences. His role involved leading the clinical strategy, clinical teams, process development and operations for all clinical projects of the company, including Google and Google[x]. Scott has also served as a Venture Partner at Versant Ventures, CTO and Co-founder of Intersection Medical (sold to ImpediMed), and VP Clinical Affairs (ImpediMed). In these latter two roles he was responsible for clinical research strategy and operations. In this deep dive discussion, Scott and I talk about surgical robots, patient recruitment difficulties for clinical trials, why he co-founded Faro Health, the current inefficiencies in clinical trials, how he and his colleagues are working to make it better and how they are using AI to do that, what the future clinical trails will look like, and the lessons he's learned as a tech and healthcare leader. I found my discussion with Scott very informative and timely. I hope you do too. Here's Scott Chetham.

My guest in this episode is Nathan Clark. Nathan is the Co-Founder of Ganymede.bio, one of the fastest-growing software startups in biotech. Ganymede is the modern, data platform for life sciences companies, and its focused on integrating physical lab instruments with digital workflows. Prior to Ganymede, Nathan was the product manager at Benchling for Machine Learning and Insights Analytics. He also has a background in financial technology and trading, and notably launched affirm.com/savings. In this informative talk, Nathan and I talked about - His journey from being a bond trader to a life science data entrepreneur, - Difference between Fintech and life science tech - How Genymede is doing it differently than the other companies - How to be 10% faster to the market with new drugs - Growing with a remote working team - Why he got into a life science start up - His fondness for MIT Open Courseware You can reach out to him by email, his website or LinkedIn. I enjoyed my chat with Nathan. Hope you do too.

My guest today is Dr. Ben Coverdale. Ben is an experienced Global Account Director of Patsnap with a demonstrated history of working in the life sciences and innovation intelligence industries. Patsnap is Powered by advanced AI, where they help IP and R&D teams collaborate and accelerate the entire innovation lifecycle. He has a strong research professional background with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) focused in Biomedical Materials from The University of Manchester. He developed 3D scaffold fabrication methods for the regeneration of bone tissue, gaining insight in product development and the patent landscape in the medical device and biotechnology industries. Following 4 years at StemCell Technologies, supporting big pharma and key academic institutions to optimize their R&D workflows, he now supports innovative and disruptive life science companies to protect their IP portfolios, understand competitor movements, and innovate faster in rapidly developing markets. In this interview, we talk about connecting the dots in drug development, what makes Patsnap different than other AI tools and gives more targeted results, his favorite author Stephen Hawking, favorite books "The brief history of time" and "Sapiens", and what the topic of his potential TedTalk would be. I thoroughly enjoyed my chat with Ben. Hope you do too. Here's Dr. Ben Coverdale.

My guest in this episode is Greg Kunst, CEO of Aurion Biotech. At Aurion, Greg and his colleagues are working on a regenerative treatment (corneal endothelial cell therapy) for millions of people who have partial or complete vision loss. Greg joined Aurion Biotech with deep and varied experience in ophthalmic medical devices, drug delivery systems, diagnostics, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical products. His expertise spans global corporate development, strategy, health policy, marketing, commercialization, business development, market access and medical affairs. Before Aurion Biotech, Greg spent 6 years at Glaukos Corporation (NYSE: GKOS) in numerous roles of increasing responsibility, most recently as vice president of global marketing. Before Glaukos, Greg worked at Alcon, a Novartis company, as global franchise director over the Alcon glaucoma surgery and retina pharmaceutical businesses. Greg is a board member of Pr3vent. He received an MBA from Vanderbilt University and a BS in Economics from Brigham Young University. In this interview, Greg talks about why he decided to dedicate his life to eye therapies, the origin of Aurion (Dr. Shigeru Kinoshita's research in Corneal Endothelial Cell Therapy), how he remains positive in spite of being a self-proclaimed news junkie, and his unequivocal commitment to making Aurion therapies affordable for everyone. I thoroughly enjoyed my chat with Greg. Hope you do too.

My guest in this episode is Dr. Harsha Rajasimha, CEO/founder of Jeeva Clinical Trials. We talked about the pharmaceutical industry's blackbox - clinical trials. Personal tragedy inspired him to dedicate his life to make technology more efficient for healthcare solutions including AI and generative AI. We discussed the complexities of clinical trials, its patient recruitment, and data unavailability challenges, and why we must make them more efficient He is also the founder of a non-profit, IndoUSRare, which as the name implies bridges the rare disease treatment and awareness gap between the US and Indian diaspora. We also discussed the people and companies with the similar inspiring stories such as John Crowley from Amicus Therapeutics, and Terry Pirovolakis from Elpida Therapeutics. Listen to Harsha's interview if you're looking for a doze of inspiration and motivation.

My guests today are the dynamic husband-wife duo of Alpesh and Jigisha Gandhi who jointly run Ami Polymer Pvt. Ltd. which is a leading manufacturer of silicon tubing something we use a lot in the life science industry. Starting with Alpesh and later with Jigisha, Ami Polymer is a leading silicon tubing manufacturing company in India and played an important role in COVID vaccine manufacturing. Alpesh Gandhi did his engineering in Rubber Technology from L. D. College of Engineering, Ahmedabad, India. The same college where I did my Chemical Engineering. Then he did his MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies. He co-founded Ami Polymer Pvt. Ltd. in the late 90s. Jigisha Gandhi studied commerce at the University of Mumbai and is the director of Ami Polymer Pvt. Ltd. She's been bestowed with numerous awards by Universities, magazines, and the government for her achievements in the business world, including being profiled in a book "Eves Against the Odds" featuring the most powerful women entrepreneurs in India. Here are Alpesh and Jigisha Gandhi sharing their fascinating journey from humble beginnings to running a global company and what they think the future holds for the pharma industry.

My guest in this episode is Lyndsee Manna. Lyndsee is an EVP at Arria NLG, where along with her colleagues, she helps businesses derive actionable intelligence from data to make better decisions. That's the simplistic version and we go into a lot more details. In this wide-ranging episode, we talk about math, words, language, writing, technology, data analytics, success, failure, and personal choices. A standout quote from her is, "There are no failures. There are only lessons." I had a great time talking to Lyndsee, discussing the future possibilities, and learning about AI.

My guest today is Dr. Paul Peter Tak. Dr. Tak received his medical degree cum laude from the Free University in Amsterdam and was trained as an internist, rheumatologist, and immunologist at Leiden University Medical Center, where he also received his PhD. He has been a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Diego. Next, he served as Professor of Medicine and founding Chair of the Department of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology at the Academic Medical Centre/University of Amsterdam (AMC). During this time, he founded Arthrogen b.v., a biotech company focused on gene therapy. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals (> 570 publications, H-index 130, >75,000 citations) and received numerous awards. He has been elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (U.K.) At GlaxoSmithKline he served as Senior Vice President, Chief Immunology Officer, and Global Development Leader. He oversaw the creation of a portfolio of new medicines for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, cancer, infectious disease and pain, including anti-OSM antibody, anti-LAG3 antibody, ESM-BET inhibitor, RIP1 kinase inhibitor, anti-GM-CSF antibody, anti-CCL17 antibody, Benlysta sc, gepotidacin, molibresib (BET inhibitor), belantamab mafodotin (anti-BCMA antibody-drug conjugate), and NY-ESO1 SPEAR T cell therapy. He was the Chair of the Scientific Review Board, the governing body accountable for the scientific assessment of GSK's R&D portfolio. During 2018-2020 Paul Peter served as Venture Partner at Flagship Pioneering and also as President and CEO of Kintai Therapeutics, a start-up focused on enteric signaling networks, where he oversaw the creation of a portfolio of proprietary small molecules called precision enteric medicines for the treatment of obesity, neurological disease, and cancer. In addition, he has served as President and CEO of Tempero Pharmaceuticals, Board Member of Galvani Bioelectronics, ViiV Healthcare, Sitryx Therapeutics (co-founder), Omega Therapeutics, Levicept, and Citryll.