Beyond Biotech - the podcast from Labiotech

Welcome to our final episode for 2025. We’re taking a little break for the holidays but we’ll be back again on Friday 9th of January to kick off our year with the Managing Director of Merck KGaA’s M Ventures, Hakan Goker.Today, though, I’m joined by Ester in t’Groen of Johnson & Johnson.Fresh off the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting in Orlando, where J&J presented over 60 abstracts, Ester shares insights into the company's portfolio and the advances that the company has made over recent years in the hematology space.She walks us through the real-world evidence for some pretty significant results from the thousands of patients in their clinical trials, and explain what's next for J&J in hematology in 2026—including some exciting readouts.01:14 - Meet Ester in t'Groen    02:37 - Winning the Kilmer Medal06:32 - J&J's key focus areas07:32 - The hematology portfolio19:07 - All about ASH 202523:49 - The MajesTEC-3 data27:43 - The value of real-world datasets32:06 - Looking forward into 2026Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! Stay updated by subscribing to our newsletterTo dive deeper into the topic: Blood Cancer Awareness Month: What biotech holds in store 10 oncology deals in 2025 spotlight where industry leaders are betting bigT cell engagers: A promising, fast-growing field for cancer and autoimmune disease treatments

In this episode we sit down with Martin Beck, Senior Vice President and Head of the Inflammation Business Unit at Boehringer Ingelheim. Martin grew up just down the road from the company’s headquarters in Germany, joined as a scholarship student more than 20 years ago, and never really left – and you’ll hear why he still loves it.We spend most of the episode focused on a disease that doesn’t get nearly enough attention: idiopathic and progressive pulmonary fibrosis. These are rare, fatal lung-scarring conditions that kill faster than many cancers, yet patients often shrug off the first symptoms as “just aging.” Martin walks us through why half the people on today’s treatments stop taking them, how BI just brought the first new medicine in over a decade to the U.S. market, and why an AI tool that spots microscopic changes on lung scans might finally help doctors diagnose and treat these patients’ years earlier. 01:24   Meet Martin Beck04:21   About Boehringer Ingelheim07:12   Understanding idiopathic & progressive pulmonary fibrosis10:16   Current treatments & high discontinuation rates12:25   BI’s long-term investment in PF16:02   eLung AI tool for earlier diagnosis22:16   A new oral PDE4B inhibitor28:13   Key data highlights from the recent ERS congress30:31   FDA approval & global rollout plansInterested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! Stay updated by subscribing to our newsletterTo dive deeper into the topic: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: Refoxy, Boehringer, Insilico, and more on the hunt for curative treatmentsEight respiratory disease companies advancing innovative therapies in 2025BI: Life with pulmonary fibrosis 

Cancer is one of the biggest health challenges worldwide. While progress has been made, millions of patients are still in need of new treatment options that better address the complexities of their disease.BeOne Medicines is creating the world’s next-generation cancer treatments with relentless innovation, aiming to deliver therapies to more people around the globe. This week, I'm sitting down with Mark Lanasa, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Solid Tumors, at BeOne Medicines, to learn more about how their novel cancer models and unique in-house R&D approach is pushing them closer to cracking the cancer code.This episode is sponsored by BeOne Medicines.01:06              Meet Mark Lanasa04:56              Cancer as a differentiated and adaptative disease07:35              BeOne’s approach to cancer research and development10:30              Accelerating cancer research by bringing it all in-house15:24              Making progress and signs of success17:41              Exciting investigational stage programs23:51              The advantage of hierarchical thinking in R&D28:13              Keep up with new research from BeOneInterested 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:How can treatment strategies evolve to address the challenges in chronic lymphocytic leukemia?

Daiichi Sankyo has been pioneering ADCs since 2010, with a pipeline targeting over 30 indications and potentially reaching 400,000 patients.In today’s episode I’m joined by Dr. Markus Kosch, Head of the EU Oncology Business Division at Daiichi Sankyo. A physician by training with a deep academic background in oncology, Markus has spent over two decades advancing cancer care, from clinical practice to leadership roles shaping strategy across Europe and Canada. Since joining Daiichi Sankyo in 2021, he has been at the forefront of one of the industry’s most ambitious ADC pipelines, overseeing more than 60 clinical trials across 24 countries and driving landmark approvals that are redefining treatment in breast, lung, and gastric cancers.This week's episode is brought to you with the support of Kadans. Looking for the perfect space to grow your Life Sciences company? Kadans Science Partner is Europe’s leading provider of cutting-edge lab and offices spaces, tailored to your needs. Kadans puts you at the centre of innovation, giving you the chance to connect with top researchers, universities, and investors through its international network. Here, you’ll join a vibrant community of innovators driving real change. Are you ready to take your research to the next level? Learn more at kadans.com – where innovation thrives. 01:45.         Meet Markus Kosch03:12.         Clinical background shaping an industry role04:46.         Daiichi Sankyo’s 40-year oncology legacy06:19.         European investments and Munich hub10:34.         ADC platform strengths explained14:20.         Key ESMO 2025 trial dataClarification: The reference to ‘TB01’ at 16:24 refers to the TROPION-Breast02 clinical trial, not TB01.19:43.         Managing risks and partnerships23:35.         Patient advocacy in trial design33:59.         Future of oncology and ADCsInterested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! Stay updated by subscribing to our newsletterTo dive deeper into the topic: 10 oncology deals in 2025 spotlight where industry leaders are betting bigAstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s Enhertu recommended for approvalTen drugs to watch in 2025: will these therapies become blockbusters?

Two weeks ago, the biopharma industry gathered in Vienna, Austria, for BIO-Europe. Tens of thousands of one-on-one meetings were organized between innovators and out-licensors with top pharma companies and venture capitalists eager to partner and invest. For the large pharma firms, it’s a chance to learn about new science and keep tabs on evolving assets. For smaller biotechs, though, it can be three-days of high-pressure networking where a lot is riding on making the right pitch to the right company at just the right time. Get it right, and you walk away with a clear path forward and the cash to fund it. But get unlucky and you might find yourself with few options in the New Year.This year, we decided to follow one biotech heading into their first BIO-Europe partnering conference. We met with DISCO Pharma three times over the last month to follow their BIO-Europe journey:Before the event to learn about the science behind DISCO and understand what their goals were heading into BIO-Europe. At the event itself to talk about how the partnering meetings had been going and how the event had shaped up for DISCO. A week after BIO-Europe had closed, diving into the follow-up activities and learning about the next steps for this German biotech.I hope you enjoy my conversations with Ajla Hrle, Chief Business Officer at DISCO, and this behind the scenes look at BIO-Europe from an innovator’s perspective.02:25          Preparing for BIO-Europe16:51           On the floor at BIO-Europe22:23          Following up from BIO-EuropeInterested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! Stay updated by subscribing to our newsletterTo dive deeper into the topic: BIO-Europe partnering: Australian biotech companies share their experiencesPractical partnering at BIOSPAIN: on the ground with biotech innovators ready to take the next stepBiotech in Vienna: a budding life science hub