Leading Beyond The Lab

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What does it take to improve a drug discovery success rate of less than 1%? In this episode, Yann Gaston-Mathé explains how AI, robotics, and laboratory automation are being combined to accelerate the development of new medicines and tackle some of the industry's most challenging drug targets.

This week on Leading Beyond The Lab, Lawrence Rose sat down with Yann Gaston-Mathé, CEO and Co-Founder of Iktos, with more than 20 years of experience spanning pharmaceutical R&D, data science, IT, strategic consulting, entrepreneurship, and AI-driven drug discovery.

In this episode, Yann Gaston-Mathé covers:

• How Iktos is tackling the inefficiency of small molecule drug discovery and why overall success rates remain below 1%

• What differentiates Iktos from other AI drug discovery companies by combining generative AI with laboratory automation and robotic synthesis

• The journey from large pharmaceutical organisations into entrepreneurship and the founding story behind Iktos in 2016

• How AI, predictive modelling, robotics and iterative design-make-test cycles are transforming drug discovery workflows

• Why the next frontier for AI in healthcare is improving clinical success rates and reducing development timelines that currently take 8 to 10 years

Yann provides a practical perspective on where AI is creating real value in drug discovery, the importance of combining software with experimental science, and why human expertise remains central to the future of pharmaceutical innovation.

If you're interested in AI, biotechnology, drug discovery, pharmaceutical R&D, laboratory automation, or the future of healthcare innovation, this episode offers valuable insight from someone building and deploying these technologies today.

Throughout the conversation, Lawrence and Yann discuss the evolution of @Iktos, collaborations across the pharmaceutical industry, and lessons learned from working with global pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners.

Follow ARTO

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/artotalent
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kEcRZOiJChOoN1KF2n1ng
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TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@artotalent?_t=ZG-8tHbGACAZaj&_r=1
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leading-beyond-the-lab/id1783115575
Website: https://arto-talent.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@artotalent

Yann Gaston-Mathé

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yann-gaston-mathe-9850a21/

Lawrence Rose

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrencerose/

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction and episode highlights
01:37 Welcome to Leading Beyond The Lab
07:19 The founding story behind Iktos
08:05 Career journey through pharma, consulting, IT and data science
10:09 Leaving large pharmaceutical companies for entrepreneurship
11:10 How the Iktos platform works
16:41 Automation and scaling medicinal chemistry workflows
22:03 Measuring impact, speed and efficiency in drug discovery
26:19 Competition within AI drug discovery
27:30 The future of AI in pharmaceutical R&D
29:35 Building strategic pharmaceutical partnerships
30:52 Evaluating new collaboration opportunities
32:18 Working across global cultures and organisations
33:35 Creating value through partnerships
35:45 Scaling resources and managing growth
41:09 Challenges in building automated laboratory infrastructure
42:12 Will AI replace chemists?
45:29 Will AI ever fully replace human scientists?
47:59 What continues to motivate Yann Gaston-Mathé
49:24 Advice for the next generation of scientists
50:38 Science, technology and the future workforce
51:06 Closing remarks

#LeadingBeyondTheLab #ARTOTalent #DrugDiscovery #ArtificialIntelligence #Biotech #Pharmaceuticals #LifeSciences #LaboratoryAutomation #MachineLearning #HealthcareInnovation #DrugDevelopment #GenerativeAI
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Can targeting IRhom2 unlock a new generation of autoimmune disease treatments?

This week on Leading Beyond The Lab, Lawrence Rose sat down with Jan Poth and Jens Ruhe of SciRhom, discussing a new therapeutic approach focused on IRhom2 and TACE inhibition in autoimmune disease.

The conversation explored the scientific origins of the company, lessons from failed inflammatory pathway inhibitors, and the challenge of building a biotech platform in one of the toughest funding environments in recent years.

In this episode, Jan Poth and Jens Ruhe cover:

• Why previous TACE inhibitors failed and how targeting IRhom2 could offer a more selective approach to inflammatory diseases

• The scientific breakthrough that convinced the founding team IRhom2 could be druggable despite industry skepticism at the time (Carl Blobel, Hospital for Special Surgery)

• Why combining multiple inflammatory pathways may be necessary to move beyond the efficacy ceiling seen with TNF and IL-6 inhibitors

• How the company secured an oversubscribed Series A after speaking with more than 150 investors over two years, with backing from Wellington Partners, Hadean Ventures, Kurma Partners, Andera Partners, MIG Capital, Bayern Kapital, and HTGF

• The roadmap for S878, expectations for the upcoming Phase I trial in rheumatoid arthritis patients, and the long-term ambition to become the defining company in IRhom2 therapeutics.

This episode offers a detailed look into modern biotech company building, translational immunology, and the realities of advancing a first-in-class therapeutic platform from concept to clinic. If you are interested in autoimmune disease innovation, antibody development, biotech financing, or platform company strategy, this conversation is well worth your time.

Follow ARTO
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/artotalent
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kEcRZOiJChOoN1KF2n1ng
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arto.talent?igsh=MWdhbWl5N204a253NQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@artotalent?_t=ZG-8tHbGACAZaj&_r=1
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leading-beyond-the-lab/id1783115575
Website: https://arto-talent.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@artotalent

Jan Poth & Jens Ruhe
CEO & COO at SciRhom
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-poth-a79424136/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jens-ruhe/

Lawrence Rose
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrencerose/

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction to immune system complexity and inflammatory disease challenges
01:38 Podcast introduction and overview of SciRhom’s approach
02:30 The origins of targeting IRhom2 and TACE
05:20 The founding of SciRhom and early scientific conviction
06:39 Discovering IRhom2 surface accessibility with Carl Blobel
08:26 Combining inflammatory pathway inhibition
12:14 Complexity of the immune system and autoimmune disease treatment
14:20 Why single pathway inhibitors reach an efficacy ceiling
18:15 Raising a successful Series A in a difficult biotech market
20:23 Overview of lead candidate S878 and upcoming Phase I trial
24:15 Fundraising challenges and early investor support from HTGF
31:47 Key milestones and expectations for Phase I readouts
34:22 Building a pipeline around IRhom2 biology
35:24 Balancing speed, capital efficiency, and scientific rigor
39:55 Founder dynamics and collaborative decision-making
43:12 Bringing commercial development expertise into biotech strategy
49:11 Balancing patient impact with commercial success
49:45 Long-term vision for SciRhom and IRhom2 therapeutics
52:30 AI, technology, and reducing drug development costs
55:11 Shared mission and improving outcomes for autoimmune disease patients
56:34 Closing remarks

#LeadingBeyondTheLab #ARTOTalent #Biotech #Immunology #AutoimmuneDisease #DrugDevelopment #AntibodyTherapeutics #RheumatoidArthritis #LifeSciences
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This week on Leading Beyond The Lab, Lawrence Rose sat down with Megan McGill, CEO of Brenig Therapeutics, with years of experience spanning biotech leadership, strategy, clinical medicine, management consulting and neuroscience research.

In this episode, Megan covers:

• Why Brenig Therapeutics is targeting neuroinflammation and Parkinson’s disease through LRRK2 and NLRP3 inhibitors, and how the company is positioning itself within the rapidly evolving neurodegenerative disease landscape.
• How AI and machine learning are being used across medicinal chemistry and drug development at Brenig through investment from Torrey Pines, OrbiMed, New Enterprise Associates, BioGeneration Ventures, to optimise brain penetration, selectivity and safety profiles simultaneously.
• Why Megan believes an MD and PhD background is critical in biotech leadership, combining a deep understanding of disease biology with a real-world understanding of patients and unmet medical needs.
• The realities of building a career in medicine, biotech and leadership while raising children as a single mother, and the leadership lessons around empathy, patience and resilience that came from that experience.
• Why neuroscience investment remains significantly underfunded despite the growing global burden of neurodegenerative disease, and what needs to change across biotech, pharma and venture capital to accelerate progress in CNS innovation.
• Lawrence and Megan also discuss organisations and companies including Eli Lilly and Company, McKinsey & Company, BridgeBio Pharma and the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

Be sure to check out the full episode to hear Megan’s perspective on the future of neuroscience, biotech leadership and the evolving role of AI across drug development.

Follow ARTO
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/artotalent
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kEcRZOiJChOoN1KF2n1ng
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arto.talent?igsh=MWdhbWl5N204a253NQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@artotalent?_t=ZG-8tHbGACAZaj&_r=1
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leading-beyond-the-lab/id1783115575
Website: https://arto-talent.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@artotalent

Megan McGill
CEO at Brenig Therapeutics
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcgillmegan/

Lawrence Rose
Consulting Director at ARTO
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrencerose/

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
02:21 Megan’s background across medicine, biotech and neuroscience
03:03 Joining Brenig Therapeutics and the company’s pipeline
04:16 LRRK2 and NLRP3 inhibitors in Parkinson’s disease
05:23 The growing neuroinflammation landscape
06:51 Phase 1 clinical trial milestones and biomarkers
07:23 Why Brenig chose Parkinson’s disease
10:14 AI medicinal chemistry and machine learning in drug discovery
12:08 How AI is changing biotech operations and strategy
14:20 Brenig’s Series B strategy and upcoming milestones
15:57 Building efficient biotech teams and scaling operations
17:30 Leadership inspiration and high-performing teams
18:46 The advantages of being an MD and PhD in biotech leadership
21:16 Commercial partnerships and pharma collaboration strategy
23:08 Digital biomarkers, diagnostics and wearable technology
28:06 Balancing medicine, biotech leadership and motherhood
33:30 Mentorship, McKinsey and learning commercial strategy
37:00 Leadership communication and simplifying complexity
38:23 What defines elite biotech teams and company culture
40:40 Brenig’s board, investors and strategic support
43:16 Building a culture of excellence in a virtual biotech company
46:13 The future of neuroscience and neurodegenerative disease
50:25 Clinical trial recruitment and patient engagement
52:34 The Biotech CEO Sisterhood and women in biotech leadership
56:17 Diversity, leadership and representation in biotech
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Can AI become a universal simulator of biology, helping predict disease, improve drug success rates, and reshape how medicine is developed?

This week on Leading Beyond The Lab, Lawrence Rose sat down with Jean-Philippe Vert, Co-Founder and CEO of Bioptimus, with decades of experience spanning artificial intelligence, computational biology, academia and big tech, including leadership roles at Google, and work influenced by breakthroughs such as DeepMind’s AlphaFold.

In this episode, Jean-Philippe covers:

• Why Bioptimus is focused on understanding patient biology, not simply designing molecules, and why that could change drug development.

• How AI-powered decision systems could improve translational research, clinical trial design, patient recruitment and disease prediction.

• Why Jean-Philippe left Google to build Bioptimus, and why foundation models for biology may represent a major shift in medicine.

• How partnerships across healthcare systems, pharma and research institutions are helping build the data infrastructure behind biological foundation models, with perspectives shaped alongside leaders including Sarah Teichmann (Professor at Cambridge University) and Caroline Uhler (Professor at MIT)

• What makes AI in biology defensible, from proprietary data partnerships and elite interdisciplinary teams, to support from investors including Edward Kliphuis (Sofinnova Partners), Bpifrance, Cathay Investments.

A thoughtful conversation on AI, biology, and the future of medicine. From lessons learned in big tech to what it takes to build enduring platforms in TechBio, this is a considered discussion for anyone interested in where scientific discovery is heading.

Be sure to check out the full episode.

Follow ARTO
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/artotalent
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kEcRZOiJChOoN1KF2n1ng
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arto.talent
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@artotalent
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leading-beyond-the-lab/id1783115575
Website: https://arto-talent.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@artotalent

Jean-Philippe Vert
CEO at Bioptimus
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jean-philippe-vert/

Lawrence Rose
Talent Solutions Director at ARTO
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrencerose/

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction and vision for AI as a universal simulator of biology
01:41 Introducing Jean-Philippe Vert and @Bioptimus
02:27 What Bioptimus is doing differently in AI biology
07:46 AI decision systems and improving clinical development
12:52 Early disease detection and predictive healthcare
15:28 Why Jean-Philippe left @Google
19:21 Building and sourcing biological data at scale
22:19 Partnerships and foundation models
28:04 Lessons from big tech
33:23 Defensibility in AI biology
37:09 Building interdisciplinary teams and culture
39:28 AI in healthcare, hype versus infrastructure
41:20 What AI means for doctors
43:10 What may define lasting AI-biology companies
45:05 Challenges of building Bioptimus
48:13 Prioritisation and deciding where to focus
51:33 Mentorship, leadership and building teams
53:02 Communicating vision to boards and investors
55:33 What success looks like in ten years

#LeadingBeyondTheLab #ARTOTalent #TechBio #ArtificialIntelligence #DrugDiscovery #ComputationalBiology #PrecisionMedicine
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What does it take to build not just one billion-dollar company, but seven and start again after losing it all? In this episode, Robert Wessman shares the mindset, discipline and foresight behind building one of the world’s most ambitious biosimilars platforms.

This week on Leading Beyond The Lab, Lawrence Rose sat down with Robert Wessman, Founder and Executive Chairman, with over 25 years of experience spanning global pharmaceuticals, generics, biosimilars and serial entrepreneurship.

In this episode, Robert Wessman covers:
(01:12) Why biologics dominate the future of pharmaceuticals and the urgent need to expand access through biosimilars, with treatment costs reaching up to $100,000 per patient annually
(04:10) Building seven companies including six unicorns, and scaling a global generics business across 80+ countries with over 16,500 employees
(12:32) The seven-pillar framework behind building high-performance culture, including vision setting, team alignment and execution discipline
(18:14) The importance of timing in biotech, and how starting too early or too late in biosimilars can determine success or failure
(38:16) Strategic foresight in action, from anticipating regulatory changes to building one of the largest biosimilars pipelines with over 30 products

This conversation offers a clear, experience-backed perspective on scaling in life sciences, building resilient organisations and making high-impact decisions in complex markets. If you are working in biotech, pharma or leadership, this episode provides practical insights worth applying.

Follow ARTO
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/artotalent
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kEcRZOiJChOoN1KF2n1ng
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arto.talent?igsh=MWdhbWl5N204a253NQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@artotalent?_t=ZG-8tHbGACAZaj&_r=1
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leading-beyond-the-lab/id1783115575
Website: https://arto-talent.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@life_sciences

Robert Wessman
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-wessman/

Lawrence Rose
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrencerose/

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
00:46 The global cost challenge of biologics
01:12 Market dynamics and future of biosimilars
03:11 Origins of building multiple pharma companies
04:10 Scaling Actavis into a global leader
05:22 Repeatable frameworks for building companies
06:53 Execution, culture and operational excellence
10:01 Building Alvotech in Iceland
11:10 Hiring globally and building culture
12:32 The seven pillars of high-performance culture
15:28 Execution and accountability at scale
17:03 Scaling rapidly while maintaining culture
18:14 Timing the biosimilars market
19:27 Fundraising and early-stage selling
22:07 Building partnerships and licensing strategy
24:21 Manufacturing strategy and infrastructure
25:49 Business development and commercial model
27:11 Building global supply chains
28:23 Transitioning leadership roles
30:29 Evolution of CEO skillsets
32:03 AI and the future of work in pharma
34:03 Hiring for high-performance teams
36:33 Managing risk and operational challenges
37:07 Reducing development costs through foresight
38:16 Scaling pipeline strategy
40:25 Patent challenges and market barriers
42:19 Anticipating market shifts in biologics
44:11 Navigating setbacks and industry challenges
45:26 Market dynamics and global pricing pressures
47:08 Why Iceland as a strategic base
50:47 Attracting global talent to Iceland
53:09 Capital markets and disciplined growth
54:40 Risks of overfunding
55:04 Personal story and adversity
58:19 Near-death cycling accident
01:00:30 Recovery and resilience
01:05:55 Impact on mindset and life perspective

#LeadingBeyondTheLab #ARTOTalent #Biotech #Pharmaceuticals #Biosimilars #LifeSciences #Leadership
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