On this week’s episode, we chat with Hans Eriksson, chief medical officer (CMO) of HMNC Brain Health, about ketamine and treatment-resistant depression, and with Krishna Polu, CEO, president and co-founder of new kidney health biotech company R1 Therapeutics.

Times:

03:57 HMNC Brain Health

29:47 R1 Therapeutics

HMNC Brain Health

HMNC Brain Health is a Munich-based clinical-stage biopharma company developing personalised treatments for depression. It has a phase 2 programme using oral, non-dissociative ketamine to treat treatment-resistant depression (TRD).

The Ketabon programme, a joint venture between HMNC Brain Health and Develco Pharma, features an oral prolonged-release formulation of ketamine (KET01) for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) with minimal dissociative side effects. This approach aims to make ketamine treatment suitable for use at home, potentially improving the risk profile and patient convenience compared to existing intravenous and intranasal ketamine therapies.

The development of oral prolonged-release ketamine could also extend to other indications beyond depression, such as anxiety, aggression, PTSD, and panic disorder.

Prior to HMNC, Eriksson was CMO at COMPASS Pathways and was senior director of clinical research at Lundbeck, as well as medical science director at AstraZeneca. He has led five clinical programmes in depression, three of which have resulted in regulatory approvals.

R1 Therapeutics

R1 Therapeutics is a US-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of first-in-class therapies for patients with kidney disease.

The company recently announced its launch – during National Kidney Month – with an oversubscribed $77.5m Series A financing, along with the exclusive global license to develop and commercialize AP306 outside of Greater China from China-based Alebund Pharmaceuticals, Ltd.

Proceeds from the financing will fund R1's global development program of AP306 in partnership with Alebund, including a phase 2b study planned to start later this year.

AP306 is a first-in-class, pan phosphate transporter inhibitor in development as a monotherapy for the treatment of hyperphosphatemia in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Whereas currently available approved phosphate lowering therapies work by inhibiting "passive" transport of phosphate through binding phosphate and other mechanisms, AP306 is the only agent that blocks the "active" transport of phosphate for the treatment of CKD.

To get in touch with guest suggestions, or to sponsor or advertise on the podcast, please email jim@deeptechdigest.com

On this week’s episode, we chat with Gabriel Levin, gynecologic oncologist at the McGill University Health Centre, and director of oncology at CureLab Oncology Inc., about elanagen, a promising therapeutic advance for women with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer; Eden Ben, CEO of Amorphical, about nano-amorphous mineral therapeutics inspired by blue crayfish; and Hans Schambye, CEO of BOOST Pharma, a company making progress in the battle with brittle bone disease.

Times:

03:36 Amorphical

26:26 CureLab Oncology

43:31 BOOST Pharma

CureLab Oncology

CureLab Oncology Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company headquartered in the greater Boston area. The company is focused on developing safer, more effective treatments for solid tumours and inflammatory conditions.

CureLab's lead programme, Elenagen, is an investigational DNA therapy consisting of a plasmid encoding the human protein p62/SQSTM1. In clinical studies conducted outside the US, Elenagen demonstrated a strong safety profile and statistically significant clinical benefit when combined with chemotherapy, along with evidence of immune activation and mitigation of chronic inflammation.

Amorphical

Amorphical is a biopharma company advancing a novel class of nano-amorphous mineral therapeutics, inspired by the blue crayfish.

Amorphical's proprietary nano-amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) agent demonstrates a unique mechanism: targeting and neutralizing the acidic microenvironments associated with inflammation and tumours.

The novel pH-modulating approach is already showing traction in a phase 2 FDA trial for hypoparathyroidism and the company recently reported positive data in a Crohn's disease trial, with other programmes in pancreatic cancer.

BOOST

BOOST Pharma is BOOST Pharma was founded based on science from Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, a world-leader in cell therapy research. BOOST Pharma is developing a cell therapy treatment, BT-101, a cell therapy for osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as brittle bone disease, using mesenchymal stem cells.

BT-101 has demonstrated more than 70% fracture reduction in year one and about 78% in year two during phase I/II trials. The company is now gearing up for phase III paediatric trials with the more severe forms of OI (Types III and IV), aiming to move beyond the usual supportive care model and into potentially disease‑modifying territory.

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As this week’s podcast comes hot on the heels of International Women’s Day and World Kidney Day, which was yesterday, we’ve been able to squeeze them both in. The conversations this week are with Hansa Biopharma CEO Renée Aguiar-Lucander, about imlifidase for kidney transplant patients; Kyron.bio CEO Emilia McLaughlin, about glycosylation; and hydrogel-based drug delivery solutions company AmacaThera’s CEO, Mike Cooke.

Times:

03:56 Kyron.bio

19:14 AmacaThera

43:01 Hansa Biopharma

Hansa Biopharma

Hansa Biopharma AB is set for a busy year. In December, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has notified the company that the previously accepted Biologics License Application (BLA) for imlifidase has been assigned a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) action date of December 19, 2026.

Imlifidase is conditionally approved in the EU, Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland and the UK under the tradename IDEFIRIX for the desensitisation treatment of highly sensitised adult kidney transplant patients with a positive crossmatch against an available deceased donor. IDEFIRIX is also approved in Australia and Switzerland.

The company also has HNSA-5487, a next-generation IgG-cleaving molecule being developed for Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS).

Kyron.bio

French biotech company Kyron.bio and pharma company Servier recently announced a partnership to advance precision glycosylation in antibody therapeutics.

The partnership underlines the two companies’ vision to unlock the potential of glycans in next-generation biologics design to deliver safer and more effective therapeutics for patients

Kyron.bio’s glycobiology platform aims at enhancing the efficacy, safety, and scalability of next-generation antibody therapeutics across multiple disease areas. To date, engineering of glycans have been under-exploited, due to technical challenges, limiting the use of glycan engineering in drug design.

AmacaThera

AmacaThera is a developer of next-generation hydrogel-based drug delivery solutions. Using a blend of known polymers, AmacaThera’s clinically validated hydrogel platform is transforming drug delivery by enabling the precise, tunable, and sustained release of a range of therapeutics, from small molecules to biologics.

Transforming from liquid to gel at body temperature, AmacaThera’s hydrogel enables drugs to be delivered to and stay where they are needed and released over days or weeks, depending on the specific needs of each therapeutic application.

To get in touch with guest suggestions, or to sponsor or advertise on the podcast, please email jim@deeptechdigest.com

This week, we’re chatting with Haseeb Ahmad, CEO of Purespring Therapeutics, about gene therapies in kidney disease, and with Pahini Pandya, Panakeia CEO, about colorectal cancer biomarkers, the potential of AI in clinical decision-making and how AI can transform workflows in diagnostics.

Times:

03:34 Purespring

24:11 Panakeia Technologies

Purespring Therapeutics

Purespring is a precision nephrology company pioneering first-in-class, targeted genetic therapies designed to preserve kidney function.

The company is focused on transforming the treatment of kidney disease—an area of enormous unmet need, with more than 840m people worldwide living with chronic kidney disease.

Purespring’s lead programme, PS-002, for IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is set to enter the clinic this quarter. It marks the first podocyte-targeted gene therapy to reach clinical development and offers a highly differentiated approach compared with other emerging treatments, including those from Vertex and Otsuka.

Panakeia Technologies

Panakeia Technologies recently published a real-world clinical validation showing that AI can determine critical colorectal cancer biomarkers in minutes, in a test across 1,243 patients and 3,576 images in NHS hospitals.

While not yet used directly in patient care, the study demonstrates the potential for AI to support clinical decision-making, reduce lab bottlenecks, and help clinicians act faster — a topic highly relevant to the goals of the UK government's cancer plan and the ongoing discussion around innovation in healthcare.

To get in touch with guest suggestions, or to sponsor or advertise on the podcast, please email jim@deeptechdigest.com

The conversations on this week’s podcast are with CEO of Merz Therapeutics, Stefan König, about a variety of neurodegenerative conditions and a botulinum neurotoxin, and with CEO of Kainova Therapeutics, Sean MacDonald, about – among other things – G-protein coupled receptors, or GPCRs.

Times:

03:21 Merz Therapeutics

30:34 Kainova Therapeutics

Kainova Therapeutics

Kainova Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Montreal, Canada. The company develops drug candidates targeting GPCRs, with programmes focused on immuno-oncology and inflammatory diseases.

The company’s pipeline includes antibody and small-molecule programmes directed at GPCR targets. These include a CCR8-targeting antibody programme being evaluated in oncology, as well as PAR2 and EP4 antagonist programmes with potential applications in inflammatory conditions. Its development activities span preclinical and early clinical stages.

Kainova was previously known as Domain Therapeutics.

Merz Therapeutics

Merz Therapeutics is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. It operates as the therapeutics arm of the Merz Group and focuses on the development and commercialisation of medicines for neurological and neuro-related conditions.

The company’s portfolio includes treatments used in areas such as movement disorders, spasticity and other neurological conditions.

Merz Therapeutics also engages in focused acquisitions and partnerships to broaden its portfolio and reach more patients globally.

To get in touch with guest suggestions, or to sponsor or advertise on the podcast, please email jim@deeptechdigest.com

The conversations on this week’s podcast focus on a rapid and accurate prostate cancer diagnostic test, with Valley Diagnostics’ CEO Dave Taylor; and on gene therapy for retinal disease, with Lance Baldo, CEO of Beacon Therapeutics.

Times:

03:12 Beacon Therapeutics

27:38 Valley Diagnostics

Valley Diagnostics

Valley Diagnostics is a Welsh company developing next‑generation lateral flow diagnostic tests designed for early detection of human and animal diseases.

Their approach uses patented biomarkers to make faster and more accurate screening possible in GP surgeries, point‑of‑care settings, and at home. Their current pipeline includes tests for prostate cancer, lung cancer, and bovine tuberculosis.

The company is working with academic and clinical partners across Wales and England to validate its biomarkers through large‑scale studies. One example is the OSCAR clinical study, which is screening thousands of urine samples to support development of a rapid prostate cancer test.

In recent weeks, Valley Diagnostics signed several licensing agreements with Aberystwyth University, securing exclusive global rights to biomarker IP across four major disease areas. These agreements are intended to support commercialisation of their point‑of‑care tests and move them toward market readiness.

Beacon Therapeutics

Beacon Therapeutics is an ocular gene therapy company focused on inherited retinal diseases, including X‑linked retinitis pigmentosa (XLRP).

Earlier this month, the company announced it had raised over $75m in an oversubscribed Series C financing led by Life Sciences at Goldman Sachs Alternatives and with participation from the Retinal Degeneration Fund (RD Fund), the venture arm of Foundation Fighting Blindness.

The new funds will be used to complete the development of lead programme, laru-zova, a potential best-in-class gene therapy currently being investigated for the treatment of patients with XLRP, and progress commercialisation plans. The funds will also be used to help support the development of Beacon’s pipeline candidates for geographic atrophy, as well as an inherited cone rod dystrophy, and another undisclosed asset.

To get in touch with guest suggestions, or to sponsor or advertise on the podcast, please email jim@deeptechdigest.com

The conversations on this week’s podcast are with Vibhor Gupta, director and founder of Pangaea Data, and endogene.bio CEO María Teresa Pérez Zaballos.

Times:

03:09 Pangaea Data

23:43 endogene.bio

Endogene.bio

endogene.bio is a precision medicine company based in France developing a non-invasive diagnostic for endometriosis. The company’s aim is to apply precision medicine to female health.

The company was formed in 2022 by Maria Teresa Perez Zaballos and Cristina Fernandez Molina. Its innovations include a non-invasive diagnostic approach that uses menstrual blood rather than traditional blood draws or invasive surgery. By focusing on the uterine environment directly, the company aims to replace the current "gold standard" of laparoscopic surgery with a high-signal "liquid biopsy" that can be collected at home.

The company recently published a preprint, “Beyond one-size-fits-all: single-cell transcriptomic signatures predict drug efficacy and reveal responder subgroups in endometriosis.”

The company’s most recent scientific output, it was published in January 2026, and shows how the company uses single-cell transcriptomic signatures to map the molecular heterogeneity of the disease. The research has identified distinct "responder subgroups," suggesting that endometriosis is not a single condition but a collection of cellular programmes that dictate how a patient will react to specific therapies. This primary data positions endogene.bio’s platform as both a diagnostic tool and a predictive framework for patient stratification in clinical trials, aiming to move the field toward personalized treatment selection.

Pangaea Data

Pangaea Data provides a clinical-grade AI platform, PALLUX, designed to identify untreated, misdiagnosed, and under-treated patients by extracting intelligence from unstructured records.

The platform emulates clinical reasoning to scan doctors’ notes and pathology reports, identifying care gaps across conditions such as oncology, rare diseases, and chronic kidney disease. It operates behind the healthcare organisation's firewall to ensure data privacy while integrating directly into existing EHR workflows and ambient listening tools.

The platform's "Privacy by Design" architecture allows it to scale across multiple disease areas without the need for manual data labelling. By mapping clinical features and disease trajectories, PALLUX provides clinicians with a single dashboard to access actionable insights. The methodology is currently deployed across 13 countries, helping pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers discover up to five times more patients who would otherwise be missed by conventional search methods.

In December 2025, the London-headquartered company announced a multi-year strategic collaboration with AstraZeneca to advance precision healthcare through multimodal AI. The collaboration focuses on co-developing an enterprise-grade platform that fuses clinical, imaging, and genomic data to improve real-time treatment recommendations and speed up clinical trial recruitment.

To get in touch with guest suggestions, or to sponsor or advertise on the podcast, please email jim@deeptechdigest.com

This week, we chat with Affibody CEO David Bejker, and Martin Gleave, founder and chief medical officer at Sustained Therapeutics.

Times:

03:47 Affibody

23:28 Sustained Therapeutics

Sustained Therapeutics

A spin-out from the University of British Columbia in Canada, Sustained Therapeutics utilises a proprietary polymer gel technology to develop locally injected, long-acting medications. The platform is designed to release active pharmaceutical ingredients in a controlled manner over several weeks, aiming to replace traditional oral delivery or frequent injections.

While the primary focus is on managing acute and chronic pain without the use of opioids, the company is also exploring applications for the technology in inflammatory diseases and urology.

The core of the company’s pipeline involves a non-addictive, sustained-release formulation that targets the site of pain directly. By providing localized treatment, the technology seeks to minimize systemic side effects and reduce the patient's reliance on addictive substances. Beyond pain management, the firm is adapting its delivery system for oncological use, specifically targeting upper tract urothelial carcinoma, where localized, prolonged drug exposure is clinically advantageous.

In January 2026, the company reported positive data from its phase II clinical trial for a long-acting non-opioid medication designed for chronic pain. The results indicated that the sustained-release mechanism effectively extended pain relief while maintaining a favourable safety profile. These findings support the continued expansion of their clinical program into other chronic pain indications, including pelvic and scrotal pain, which are slated for further study throughout the year.

Affibody

Affibody, a Swedish clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm, is developing a new class of small proteins known as Affibody molecules. These engineered proteins are significantly smaller than traditional monoclonal antibodies—roughly one-tenth the size—which allows for better tissue penetration and flexible formatting for multi-specific treatments. The company’s research spans two main pillars: immunology and radiopharmaceuticals, leveraging its library of more than 10bn unique protein sequences to identify highly specific binders for various disease targets.

Recent activity has centred on a significant financial and clinical milestone. In late January 2026, the company launched a $29m rights issue, fully guaranteed by its lead shareholder, to fund its expanding radiopharmaceutical pipeline. This capital injection follows successful early-stage data for its RLT candidate, ABY-271; a Trial Review Committee recently recommended advancing the candidate to the second part of a phase I study in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer after initial patient cohorts showed promising safety and biodistribution.

To get in touch with guest suggestions, or to sponsor or advertise on the podcast, please email jim@deeptechdigest.com