Beyond Biotech - the podcast from Labiotech

By 2050, nearly half the world's population is expected to be myopic, with around a billion people projected to progress to high myopia — a leading cause of irreversible vision loss later in life. Children face a narrow window in which to intervene, while the eye is still growing, before those structural changes become permanent. Yet despite the scale of the problem, there is still no FDA-approved drug that slows myopia progression in children, a gap underscored just last month when the FDA declined to approve an atropine eye drop for the same use.
My guest today is Thomas Ruggia, President and CEO of Theialife, a late-stage biotech developing an oral therapy for pediatric myopia derived from a natural caffeine metabolite. Tom joins Theialife after 25 years in ophthalmology leadership, including roles at Johnson & Johnson, Alcon, Novartis, and most recently as CEO of Samsara Vision. We'll talk mechanism, evidence, and the road to Phase 3.
01:49 Meet Thomas Ruggia
06:50 How progressive myopia develops in children and why it's misunderstood
15:55 ND10's mechanism of action
19:51 20 years of Danish compassionate-use data vs. a randomised trial
26:44 Why no FDA-approved pharmacologic therapy exists yet
37:57 Theialife's pipeline beyond myopia
Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! 
Stay updated by subscribing to our newsletter
To dive deeper into the topic: 
Innovation in ophthalmology: How biotechs are reshaping the treatment of eye diseases
Can gene therapy treat vision loss?
Europe’s Ophthalmology Scene Stays Hot for Biotech Funding

Summer is a busy time for everyone, guests and listeners alike, so today we're taking stock. This is our Summer Recap — a clips episode pulling together the best moments from conversations you might have missed over the past few months.
We'll hear from Randy Teel of Arvinas and Per Lundin of Evox on two very different ways of getting drugs to the brain, and Laurent Lévy of Nanobiotix on outsmarting the liver altogether. We'll meet the founders behind these companies, including Andy Parker of Step Pharma and Gene Mack of Gain Therapeutics, and the unlikely paths that got them there. We'll dig into the science of nonsense mutations with Nerissa Kreher of Alltrna, circular RNA with Lu Gao of Therorna, and a cancer target hiding in human genetics. And we'll close with what these leaders think success actually looks like, years from now.
So sit back, and let's revisit some of our favourite moments from the summer.
02:32 Solving the delivery problem
08:39 Founder journeys
15:13 Platform science
24:41 Business, money, and geopolitics
32:28 Looking ahead
Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! 
Stay updated by subscribing to our newsletter
To dive deeper into the topic: 
Episode 204: The first PROTAC is here. What comes next in protein degradation?
Episode 205: Turning cancer cell dependencies into targeted therapies
Episode 208: Gain Therapeutics: a first-in-class, disease-modifying therapy for Parkinson's
Episode 209: Why Western pharma is sleeping on China's circular RNA revolution
Episode 211: Beyond biology: Nanobiotix's physics-first approach to cancer
Episode 213: How Evox Therapeutics is targeting CNS diseases with exosomes
Episode 214: Rewriting the rules of genetic medicine with tRNA therapeutics

Most genetic medicines are built to treat one gene, one mutation, one disease at a time. That's true even for the newest modalities — gene therapy, gene editing, mRNA — each still has to be engineered disease by disease. Alltrna is testing a different idea: that the real target isn't the gene, but the process of translation itself, where genetic instructions become protein. The company's lead approach focuses on nonsense mutations, a shared error responsible for roughly a tenth of all genetic disease diagnoses, and asks whether a single engineered molecule could address it across many conditions at once.
My guest today is Dr. Nerissa Kreher, Chief Medical Officer of Alltrna. Nerissa brings two decades of rare disease drug development experience, including CMO roles at Entrada Therapeutics, Tiburio Therapeutics, and AVROBIO, to the task of turning that platform thesis into an actual clinical program. We'll talk translation, trial design, and what it takes to bring the first engineered tRNA therapy into the clinic.
02:45 Meet Nerissa Kreher and Alltrna's tRNA platform
07:29 Gene-by-gene versus mutation-by-mutation drug development
12:08 What nonsense mutations are and why they matter
15:55 Phase 1 trial approval in Australia
19:49 What basket trials are and FDA receptiveness
27:27 Where Alltrna could be in five years
Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! 
Stay updated by subscribing to our newsletter
To dive deeper into the topic: 
Beyond Biotech - Episode 66: treating rare diseases with tRNA
Will tRNA therapy be the next big thing in genetic disease treatment?
Pharma giants pull back on AAV research: what’s next for the gene therapy space?

Gene therapy has largely stayed out of the brain, and the blood-brain barrier has been the reason why — it protects the brain from harm, but it also blocks most advanced medicines from ever reaching it. That's now beginning to change. The recent FDA approval of a brain-penetrant enzyme therapy for Hunter syndrome showed that biologics can cross that barrier and work. The next question is whether gene editing can do the same.
My guest today is Dr. Per Lundin, Co-Founder and CEO of Evox Therapeutics, a UK biotech using engineered exosomes to deliver genetic medicines directly into the brain. Evox is now extending that platform from RNA and biologics into gene editing, targeting the genetic drivers of diseases like Huntington's and ALS, where treatment options remain extremely limited. Per also brings a background as a European Patent Attorney and repeat biotech founder. We'll talk delivery, pipeline, and what a commercially scalable genetic medicine for the brain might actually look like.
02:45 Per Lundin's background and Evox's platform
09:38 Denali's Hunter syndrome approval and its significance
14:58 Targeting MSH3 to treat Huntington's disease
20:03 What commercially scalable genetic medicine requires
22:13 Evox's dominant IP position in exosome delivery
27:34 What success could mean for patients in ten years
Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! 
Stay updated by subscribing to our newsletter
To dive deeper into the topic: 
Evox and Lilly Partner to Develop Neuro RNA Drugs in Deal Worth €1.1B
Six exosome therapy companies driving development in the field
Extracellular vesicles: a growing pipeline still searching for validation

Today we’re thrilled to bring you a special episode highlighting one of Europe’s premier biotechnology events: BIOSPAIN 2026.
Joining us is Stuart Medina of Asebio, who will take us inside this landmark gathering. For the first time and in response to strong sector demand and growing interest, BIOSPAIN moves to an annual format. Hosted this year in vibrant Bilbao in Spain’s dynamic Basque Country, the event runs from 29 September to 1 October at the Bilbao Exhibition Centre.
In this episode we explore the BIOSPAIN program, the partnering opportunities on offer, the new Talent Day on the final day, and all the practical and logistical details for attendees. 
04:02 Why BIOSPAIN is moving to an annual format 
05:17 Bilbao and the Basque country
09:44 BIOSPAIN 2026: four program tracks
13:47 One-on-one partnering 
16:10 International participation and a growing Latin American presence 
22:27 Talent Day: BIOSPAIN's dedicated biotech job fair 
27:48 Ticket options, exhibiting, and sponsorship opportunities
This episode is presented with the support of Asebio and BIOSPAIN. Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! 
Stay updated by subscribing to our newsletter
To dive deeper into the topic: 
Pharma in Spain: why global investors and innovators are moving in
Practical partnering at BIOSPAIN: on the ground with biotech innovators ready to take the next step
Episode 165 - BIOSPAIN 2025: Why 1000 companies from more than 40 countries will gather in Barcelona this year