Latest / The BioHub - by Avetix / Episode 140 - Megan McGill - CEO Brenig Therapeutics

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Episode 140 - Megan McGill - CEO Brenig Therapeutics · The BioHub - by Avetix

0:06
So welcome back to another episode of the Bio Hub.
0:09
Today, we're thrilled to welcome on Megan McGill, a physician,
0:12
scientist and biotech CEO working at the forefront of
0:15
neuroscience and drug development.
0:17
Megan is the CEO of Brennig Therapeutics, where she's
0:20
leading the development of disease modifying small molecule
0:23
therapies for Parkinson's disease and other
0:26
neurodegenerative disorders. Megan began her professional
0:29
journey in strategy and healthcare consultant at
0:32
McKinsey and Company before moving into biotech leadership
0:35
roles at companies like Bridget X Bio and Bridge Bio.
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So join us today as we'll discuss how her MD PhD
0:43
influences the way she leads companies and insight into
0:46
Brenig and the pipeline, as well as women in leadership positions
0:50
in biotech. So Megan, thanks so much for
0:53
coming on. How are you?
0:54
Yeah, I'm great. Thank you for having me.
0:57
Look, it's a it's a pleasure to have you on looking forward to
1:00
it. So let's just go into a little
1:02
bit into your background, your journey through the field.
1:04
So you pursued both an MDPHD as well as roles in consulting,
1:09
business development, company creation and I guess now by
1:12
leadership. Can you just give us a a run
1:15
through your journey through the field and and how you got to
1:17
where you are today? You know, I feel incredibly
1:21
fortunate to have had the journey that I've had.
1:23
As you mentioned, I started as an MD and actually added on a
1:27
PhD. I've always been interested in
1:30
medicine. I grew up in a, a medical
1:33
household. My mom is a physician and I, I
1:35
felt like that really, you know, just as a foundation, really
1:40
serve to pique my curiosity and feel very comfortable in that
1:44
field. And then the PHDI think it was
1:48
really drawn to research and scientific innovation and
1:54
curiosity. And it was, you know, a
1:57
complementary way to understand how we're treating patients, but
2:02
also ask tough questions and learn how to answer them.
2:06
And that was a wonderful experience.
2:08
So after I finish my, my training, I trained as a
2:12
radiologist, but then really decided that, you know, a lot of
2:17
the innovation that I think I was drawn to really in
2:20
translational medicine really, you know, to help patients was
2:23
on the industry side of things. I didn't really have a strong
2:27
business background at that point.
2:28
So I spent a couple of years consulting, which was great
2:31
exposure to a number of different problems from a, a
2:33
different angle, from more of a corporate or business angle.
2:37
And, you know, learned a lot as a consultant at McKenzie.
2:41
And then I had the opportunity to join a number of biotech
2:44
companies, as you mentioned, always in different roles.
2:46
Actually, Genex Bio is really a, a strategy role, but I was on
2:50
the commercial team bridge bio business development role.
2:53
And then I had the opportunity to focus on company creation and
2:58
and company leadership as ACEO in smaller companies, spinning
3:01
assets out of universities. And so it's all those
3:05
experiences that I think, you know, we're quite diverse, but
3:09
all pieces of a puzzle that I leverage now.
3:12
Yeah, nice. And just for people that might
3:15
not be as familiar with with the company Brenic Therapeutics, I
3:19
guess could you just give us a high level overview of of what
3:22
the company does? And how would you explain the
3:24
company's mission in a way that captures both the scientific
3:28
ambition of what you trying to guys are trying to do as well as
3:30
the patient impact that you guys are are aiming for as well?
3:33
Yeah, I mean, at its core, Brenig exists to build disease
3:38
modifying drugs for hard to treat CNS or, or brain diseases.
3:43
So starting first with Parkinson's disease and we're
3:46
expanding our pipeline into other brain disorders such as
3:50
multiple sclerosis. Really, the company mission is
3:55
to be grounded in scientific rigor with a patient focus.
4:00
You know, these are devastating diseases that affect not only
4:03
people, but their families and entire ecosystems.
4:07
And, you know, typically we only have symptomatic treatments.
4:12
And so really thinking about targeting validated biology in
4:17
order to create disease modifying therapies for these
4:20
hard to treat diseases is the core of Brennick's mission.
4:24
Nice. And just the space that you guys
4:26
are in at the moment, I know there's been a lot of companies
4:29
that have have have tried in that space giving it a go and
4:31
may have struggled historically. What's the sort of core
4:35
philosophy or strategic lens that you believe that
4:38
differentiates Brennig from from maybe other companies that have
4:41
tried in this CNS Arena I. Mean look, I think you have to
4:46
take a multi pronged approach to these problems, starting with
4:51
one brain diseases and brain biology is extraordinarily
4:56
difficult. I think at the heart of things,
4:58
we still really don't know what's driving a lot of the
5:02
pathology or the pathophysiologic mechanisms.
5:05
And so, you know, I mentioned that because at Brennig we work
5:09
very closely with, you know, academic advisors, academic
5:12
consultants at the core. What we still need to drive
5:15
forward is not just developing therapies, but understanding
5:18
biology that underlies a number of these disorders.
5:22
So first thinking about that biology and creating therapies
5:26
against, you know, targets that have been validated.
5:30
So you know, Brenig, the molecules that we have, the
5:33
drugs that we have were born out of in computational chemistry
5:39
background really in order to optimize and create best in
5:42
class molecules against validated biology.
5:45
So you know, starting with what do we know?
5:48
How do we how do we target disease at its source is
5:52
critically important, but I think there are so many other
5:55
factors. Clinical development plans, you
5:58
know, how do we understand whether or not we're having an
6:01
effect? I mean, the pharmacodynamics,
6:04
understanding safety and efficacy, limiting peripheral
6:08
exposure, getting enough into the brain are all enormous
6:11
challenges. It's not just one.
6:14
And so, you know, thinking about how do we design our drugs to
6:20
approach those problems, but how do we also measure it?
6:23
And I think in brain diseases, what's enormously challenging is
6:28
that there's not just automatically biomarkers, there
6:30
are not things that are easily quantifiable.
6:33
At the end of the day, we want to affect clinical symptoms, but
6:36
we have a hard time understanding through the course
6:39
of clinical development are we actually achieving that?
6:42
Are the clinical endpoints good enough?
6:46
Are we're tackling heterogeneous diseases?
6:48
How do we think about segmenting patient populations in order to
6:53
really match the biology to the therapy?
6:57
And so I think where others have tripped up in the past is
7:00
because CNS is difficult for all of these reasons.
7:03
And so the more that you can break down those problems and
7:08
approach them in a rigorous way and a very thoughtful way, I
7:12
think the better chance you have for success.
7:14
But you know, drug development is enormously difficult and you
7:18
have to be able to stomach the challenge and be up for it.
7:21
Yeah, definitely. And if you just look at the
7:23
space that you guys are in, and I never like to use the word
7:26
competitors because I think ultimately what you're doing is
7:28
for the patients. There's obviously been companies
7:31
that have given it a go in this arena and not done so well.
7:33
But who are the other companies? Is that alongside your cells are
7:36
also in that space that are trying to try to address this
7:39
issue? Like who are the companies and I
7:41
don't want to use the word competing, but who are you sort
7:44
of up against in in that space? Yeah, and, and thank you for
7:47
saying, you know, it's not. We talk about, you know, other
7:50
companies as competitors. But we have to remember that
7:54
anyone who validates biology ahead of us, who introduces new
7:58
drugs, it's really an opportunity to stand on the
8:01
shoulder of giants should you be successful to do so.
8:05
So let me talk a little bit about our, our programs.
8:07
We have two programs, 1 is a Lark 2 inhibitor for the
8:11
treatment of Parkinson's disease, and the other is an
8:15
what we call an NLRP 3 inhibitor for the treatment of
8:19
Parkinson's. And we're exploring multiple
8:22
sclerosis as well. So the Lerk 2 program, this is a
8:26
kinase implicated in lysosomal pathways.
8:29
And, you know, when you have activating mutations, things
8:34
tend to go awry, to put it simply.
8:37
So there are other companies that are developing programs in
8:41
this space specifically for Parkinson's.
8:43
And we know that this is a validated target because of
8:47
people who have mutations in this kinase and their propensity
8:52
to develop Parkinson's disease. So we're leaning on biology,
8:57
genetic testing, all of these are new developments.
9:01
The others in this space, you know, small molecules, Biogen
9:04
and Denali have a program, they're expecting a phase two
9:09
read out later this year. Neuron 23 is another company
9:14
that has taken a similar approach.
9:15
They also lean into segmenting their their patient population a
9:19
little bit more specifically. And then there are other
9:21
companies such as our Venus who have PROTAC degraders.
9:26
So we're all, you know, focused on developing therapies for
9:30
Parkinson's. And you know, unlike other
9:33
industries, we are not looking for others to fail to create an
9:38
opportunity for us. We are actually looking for them
9:42
to succeed and for us to improve upon that.
9:46
You know at Brennig we are hyper focused on creating what we call
9:50
best in class molecules and until a disease is cured there
9:55
is always an opportunity. So we need to you know as an
9:58
industry remember that and that's where we're focused.
10:00
Our other program is quite interesting and is getting a lot
10:04
of attention. It's called an NLRP 3 inhibitor.
10:08
This is NLRP 3 is implicated in inflammatory pathways.
10:13
And what's interesting is that this is a target not just for
10:17
diseases of the brain, but diseases throughout the body.
10:21
We have created a brain penetrant molecule, which is not
10:25
easy to do. And there are a number of other
10:27
companies that have done so. Ventix recently was acquired by
10:32
Lilly, which is quite exciting and validating.
10:35
I think for companies in the space not there a Numura, a
10:40
whole host of others. And you know, I think this
10:44
allows for different companies to take different approaches in
10:47
terms of clinical development, where can we develop these and
10:50
unique diseases instead of relying on one company to
10:54
tackle, you know, all of these diseases.
10:56
So I really see it as an opportunity.
11:00
And then in aggregate, all of the people who have been treated
11:04
with these types of drugs in different clinical trials adds
11:08
to the overall understanding of the drug safety profile, things
11:14
of that nature. So it's really complementary, I
11:16
would say. Yeah.
11:17
You obviously went into the programs a little bit then the
11:19
lead program. What would you say differentiate
11:22
what what Brennig are doing versus I guess maybe others in
11:25
the field, but maybe others that have tried in this space before,
11:29
like what would you say is different about what you guys
11:31
are doing? Yes.
11:32
So first I would say it's really stemming from how we created
11:37
these molecules with an eye towards what we call multi
11:42
parametric optimization. And what I mean by that is
11:46
taking a parallel approach to optimizing CNS penetrance, the
11:52
ability to get into the brain, which is extraordinarily
11:56
challenging. I cannot under score that
11:58
enough. Selectivity of the molecule, PK
12:02
profile, things of that nature in order to ensure that we're
12:07
creating the profile of a drug that can best target the biology
12:12
in the brain. And so I think starting from
12:15
there is foundational to our company.
12:17
Secondly, giving careful, careful thought to how we design
12:21
our clinical programs and the the diseases that we treat.
12:28
You know, I think there's a question in, for example, the
12:31
lurk to inhibitor space. Who are the Parkinson's patients
12:35
who are most likely to benefit from this therapy?
12:39
And there are a number of different approaches.
12:41
And, you know, I think we're taking a selective approach, but
12:46
trying to be broad enough so that we can serve enough
12:49
patients. But Parkinson's is such a
12:52
heterogeneous disease. You know, there are lysosomal
12:56
pathways, implicated, mitochondrial pathways,
12:59
neurodegeneration, neuro inflammation.
13:02
The clinical manifestation of the disease differs from person
13:06
to person. The degree at which the disease
13:09
progresses difference from person to person and so I I
13:13
think really having an eye towards who are the patients we
13:17
think we can best serve and designing our clinical programs
13:21
around that is the other aspect of our differentiation that we
13:25
hope leads to a greater chance of success.
13:29
And then also, you know in our NLRP 3 program, it's a similar
13:33
approach. As I mentioned, there are a
13:34
number of diseases that you could consider treating and you
13:38
know, like me, I'm sure there are plenty of others who
13:41
regularly go down that pub Med rabbit hole when you just start
13:44
reading about different diseases and the implications of
13:46
inflammatory pathways. And it can become overwhelming
13:51
because there are a number of different diseases you can think
13:54
about treating and a number of different angles that you can
13:57
you can take. That said, I think as an
14:01
industry, we tend to see clustering around diseases.
14:04
People tend to go after the same thing and that may be driven by
14:08
other strategic options. You know, the ability to, you
14:12
know, interest investors, attract strategic partners.
14:16
Those are all considerations. It's not just disease biology
14:20
and what we can treat, but I I think developing a strong
14:23
rationale for why you pick certain disease states over
14:29
others where there's an opportunity is really a way to
14:32
differentiate companies. Yeah, amazing.
14:35
And if, if you just look at the sort of broader CNS ecosystem,
14:39
whether that's in academia or biotech or large farmer or or
14:44
venture capitalists, where do you see Brennig?
14:47
Where do you see the company positioned with all of those
14:50
those different all those different groups and what role
14:53
do you want the company to play within the CNS ecosystem?
14:58
Yeah, Yeah, that's a, that's a good question.
15:00
I think maybe there are two ways of answering that.
15:03
One is I think Branig is a biotech company is sitting at
15:08
the intersection of computational drug design and
15:12
rigorous translational biology. I think within the ecosystem of
15:17
drug development, you know, biotech, small biotech is really
15:24
at the point of innovation. I would say starting with, you
15:28
know, academia research that is so important to support and fund
15:33
and, and lean into, you know, that I really see as the, the
15:39
epicenter of understanding. How do we create knowledge
15:43
around what we're trying to treat?
15:45
What are the molecular mechanisms that's so important?
15:48
And then, you know, from there we say, OK, how can we create
15:52
therapies to manipulate that? How can we change that for
15:57
health benefits? And that's where biotech is.
16:00
I think it's at that position where you take that, you know,
16:03
academic rigor and those insights and you translate that
16:07
into creating a drug and take it through the early stages of
16:10
development. You need to understand how does
16:15
it work chemically, biologically in animals?
16:18
Then you start clinical trust testing, early clinical testing
16:22
in humans. And you know, depending on how
16:25
the company is positioned, you know, you can either advance it
16:29
further or often in these, in these diseases that we're trying
16:34
to treat, you have to be prepared strategically for very
16:38
large and very expensive clinical trials.
16:41
And I think that's where pharma, larger pharma plays an extremely
16:44
important role because they are positioned to take that
16:47
innovation that has been validated and then run the much
16:51
larger clinical trials. And so, you know, I always
16:56
wonder how there was this notion that anything outside of
17:01
academia is, quote UN quote, going to the dark side.
17:04
It it's not. This is how we create therapies.
17:07
And a lot of talented people are, you know, putting their
17:11
mind and their work behind creating those therapies.
17:15
And it's critically important. Yeah, amazing.
17:18
And like, as you look ahead over the next 1224 months, what are
17:22
the next sort of major milestones that you guys are
17:26
excited about and truly matter, whether that's scientifically,
17:29
strategically, maybe on the fundraising or partnership side,
17:33
like what what are you guys most excited about coming, coming,
17:35
coming up? Yeah, yeah.
17:38
Thank you for asking. It's 2026 is a really big year
17:41
for Brenig. So we have a number two
17:45
programs. One we recently announced is
17:48
entering first in human trials. That's our NLRP 3 inhibitor.
17:52
We're actually wrapping up our phase one trials in our lead
17:56
program, the LURK 2 inhibitor. So we have two programs in the
17:59
clinic and we're generating data as we speak.
18:03
So as we think about our clinical development and what
18:06
we're showing, we are for LURK 2 inhibitor, we are generating
18:10
data in healthy volunteers and that is to show safety and
18:14
pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, target
18:18
validation, things of that nature.
18:19
And then this year, we'll also start and complete a small trial
18:23
in Parkinson's patients meant to meet those similar endpoints.
18:29
And at the same time, we're already starting activities to
18:32
enter into phase two clinical trials.
18:34
So these are larger clinical trials in our patient population
18:37
in order to show that we are having an effect.
18:41
We think we can have an effect and those are much larger, much
18:44
bigger global trials. And so that preparation is
18:47
underway. And then similarly for NLRP 3,
18:51
we are starting and completing our phase one clinical trial and
18:56
healthy volunteers and we'll also do a small Parkinson's
19:00
program as well. So we'll have that data in
19:03
Parkinson's patients and we're gearing up for a larger multiple
19:07
sclerosis trial where we'll incorporate a number of those
19:12
those endpoints that such as imaging endpoints, MRI, are we
19:18
understanding what's happening to the brain?
19:20
Are we affecting some of the the different path of physiological
19:24
mechanisms that underline multiple sclerosis in that
19:28
patient population. So that's on the clinical front,
19:32
which is quite exciting. And then on top of that, we are
19:36
kicking off a large fundraise in order to support those phase two
19:40
clinical trials. So we're speaking to investors
19:43
and, and looking to raise up money in order to support the
19:46
development of those clinical trials.
19:48
And then we're, I think importantly looking to grow the
19:51
team in order to really expand as a company.
19:54
So it's a, it's a critical and pivotal year for for Brenig.
19:58
There are a lot of exciting milestones on the horizon and we
20:02
have line of sight to them all. So it's quite exciting and sort
20:05
of teeing them up and knocking all of them down.
20:07
It's great. Nice sounds like an exciting
20:10
year ahead for you guys. And I know a topic that you
20:13
wanted to talk through was like women in leadership positions.
20:17
I guess particularly in your case in in neuroscience.
20:20
We've had the pleasure of having on a number of people from like
20:23
biotech CEO sisterhoods. So yeah, it's and it's amazing
20:28
community and is is only getting bigger and bigger, I guess women
20:32
in leadership positions. But if you look back to some of
20:34
your journey through the field, like what aspects of your
20:37
journey felt empowering, Where did you encounter structure or
20:42
cultural barriers? And why do you think
20:44
representation in leadership, in leadership matters specifically
20:48
in medicine and biotech? And then I guess beyond the
20:51
broader diversity conversation. You know, I think I've realized
20:58
that competency compounds, and when you're competent, you're
21:03
harder to dismiss. And, you know, I think when we
21:08
think about the lack of women in leadership, you know, I think
21:13
it's because women are too often dismissed, you know, and we need
21:18
to stop dismissing women. I would say, you know, women, if
21:22
they have children, are dismissed as not professionally
21:25
focused. You know, women, if you show
21:30
emotion that you're dismissed. And I think when you show up as
21:36
competent, it, you know, you're harder to ignore.
21:39
And what we're seeing is a growing body of women, not just
21:43
in STEM. Women have been in STEM for a
21:45
long, long time. And, you know, we have
21:48
representation, majority representation.
21:50
In fact, what's missing is women in STEM leadership positions.
21:56
And I think, you know, the more women who show up, I would say
22:04
that lends a lot of credibility to just our our place in, in the
22:09
ecosystem. You know, I would say any woman
22:12
who is in a leadership position has more over earned it.
22:18
They continue to earn it. What I would say to investors or
22:21
anyone is don't dismiss women. I mean, we are here because
22:25
we've had to work incredibly hard to be here.
22:28
And you know, that not only supports us, but I think also
22:33
the community of women who are building their careers within
22:39
STEM, academia, drug development.
22:42
I think it's incredibly important because representation
22:45
matters. And at the end of the day, we
22:48
are designing drugs to treat diverse patient populations.
22:54
We definitely need diverse leadership in order to have that
22:58
perspective around what are we doing, What are we creating, the
23:03
why, why are we here? I think it's incredibly
23:06
important. And you know, it's incredibly
23:09
inspiring to see, you know, the growing number of women at the
23:13
JPM conference this year. You know, there's on Tuesdays,
23:17
everyone wears pink. And it's just such a visual
23:20
reminder of how supportive the community is and how supportive
23:24
we are of each other. It's really a visual signal to
23:28
that support and that growing body of, of women.
23:31
So I applaud it. I support it.
23:33
I think it's a wonderful movement.
23:36
Yeah, for sure. And I was, I was in San
23:37
Francisco. I've been there the past few
23:40
years, but I've seen just how much bigger and bigger the
23:42
Tuesday event there is with everyone dressing in pink.
23:45
And yeah, it's definitely a community that's getting bigger
23:47
and bigger each year. And then I guess simultaneously,
23:50
there's definitely been quite a few, well, big acquisitions from
23:54
companies that have female CE OS as well, which has been great.
23:57
Like there was Blueprint Medicines, there was avidity.
24:01
I could keep going. But yeah, which is amazing to
24:03
see. Yeah, I'm here for it.
24:08
Yeah. And just to go back to your sort
24:11
of personal journey as well, and you're an MDPHD background, I
24:15
guess you don't see too many MDPHDCEOS, certainly not that
24:20
I've encountered anyway. But how do you think your your
24:23
training influences the way that you lead companies?
24:25
I know you've been in a bunch of different roles, but business
24:28
development, company creation, consulting, drug development,
24:32
like how does that background shape the way that you lead
24:34
companies? Yeah.
24:38
You know, look, I feel incredibly fortunate to have had
24:41
the opportunity to not only earn these degrees, but you know,
24:45
really learn sitting in those positions.
24:50
There are not that many MDPHD's in leadership roles because
24:54
there are just not that many MDPHD's to tell you the truth.
24:57
And it's not necessarily a direct Ave. into industry.
25:02
Often you spend so many years focus on patients and research
25:06
that there are more opportunities within the
25:09
academic space for MDPHD's. That said, you know, the
25:14
diversity of training, I think it's incredibly important.
25:19
I, I love medicine. I love being a doctor.
25:22
I think it gives you a perspective into patients and
25:27
their diseases and what matters. And not just the person
25:32
afflicted with the disease, but their families.
25:35
What are the problems? What are exactly are we trying
25:38
to solve and where does that fit within an ecosystem?
25:41
You have to think about, you know, route of delivery, Are you
25:46
able, how hard is this for patients to receive the therapy
25:50
if that's an issue? And I don't think it it's easy
25:54
to have those insights unless you have had hands on
25:58
experience, you know, with someone who you are trying to
26:02
treat and you understand their challenges.
26:04
And I think that's critically important.
26:06
And having that eye towards patient care is integral to
26:10
everything that we do at Brenic. It's so important.
26:14
On top of that, you know, a PhD is fundamentally a practice of
26:21
how do you ask questions that we don't have answers to and how do
26:27
you figure out how to answer them.
26:29
And that process of doing that and incorporating information
26:34
and data from others and building the momentum is
26:38
foundational to drug discovery. It's what we do.
26:40
We ask questions and we figure out how to answer that question.
26:45
And so that training and that basis and that training is leads
26:48
into everything that we do. And I think the combination of
26:51
the 2 is really at the intersection of what is
26:55
translational biology, How do we understand medicine?
26:57
How do we know how to treat it? And then you know, anyone who is
27:02
an MD, PhD or has either of those, how do you then make your
27:06
way into leadership roles? And it's not something that you
27:11
just hop into or get given. This is, this is hard and it
27:15
requires a lot of experience. And so to others I, you know,
27:20
who are growing in this space, I would say, you know, look for
27:24
opportunities to work across different functions and try
27:28
something new. I had a mentor once who really
27:30
leaned on this. He said it's OK if you hop from,
27:33
you know, R&D teams to BD to commercial to communications or
27:41
whatever it may be. Having that diversity of
27:44
experience I think makes anyone a better leader.
27:48
I know it certainly makes me a better leader.
27:50
Just understanding what it takes to pull all of those functions
27:54
together. Yeah, amazing.
27:56
I love that. And just I guess another
27:59
question back to Brennick, I guess how difficult the capital
28:02
markets have been the last couple of years, you guys have
28:05
embraced operating fairly lean, which I guess makes a lot of
28:08
sense. Why do you believe capital
28:11
discipline is is especially critical for and particularly
28:15
for early stage companies? Yeah.
28:18
Yeah. We at Brennig have relied on a
28:23
corporate model that is extremely lean and we leverage
28:27
more outside consultants or fractional involvement, which
28:32
has served the company well. I feel like we really have
28:34
experts in the space when we need them.
28:38
I think you know it, it's challenging.
28:41
There's always a lot of work. You know, I wouldn't fault
28:44
anyone for growing their team. There's always something to be
28:49
done or, or something to focus on.
28:52
But yet, as you say, when capital markets are tight, you
28:57
know, you have to think about using your capital wisely.
29:00
You need to put that towards your your research and
29:03
development. You need to put it towards your
29:05
clinical trials. And so at Brennig, we think
29:08
about how do we operate efficiently, Efficiently, I
29:13
should say, but with the people in place who we need, you don't
29:18
want to, you know, be a penny wise pound foolish.
29:24
But it it is tough. You know, you have to expect the
29:26
unexpected. You might need to expand what
29:31
you're doing, do more research. It's not like you just planned
29:34
something and then everything goes as planned.
29:37
That's not how this industry works.
29:39
It's not how drug development works.
29:41
And so you have to be very thoughtful with your capital.
29:43
You have to know that, you know, there's not just a fountain of
29:48
money that you can go back to all the time.
29:51
And so I think we've been thinking that way, you know,
29:54
that efficiency so that we can allocate our capital directly to
29:59
our clinical trials and then think about what are the the
30:03
milestones, what are the value inflection points when we
30:06
interact with investors that, you know, it's the investor's
30:10
job, their fiduciary responsibility to think about
30:14
returning money to their fund. And so we have to think about
30:17
how are we creating value for them, which is an important part
30:21
of corporate strategy. We have our eye towards how are
30:25
we creating value for patients. And you know, working back from
30:29
that, that also means that we are increasing value within our
30:34
company and we want to show that to investors and we want to show
30:38
that we're doing so wisely and in a very measured way.
30:44
Yeah, amazing. And just to finish off and this
30:48
is a question that we always ask people that come on.
30:50
But if you were to sit down and have dinner with any three
30:53
people, past or present, who do you have and why?
30:56
It doesn't necessarily need to be people in biotech, although
31:00
it can be if you like. But yeah, three people you'd
31:02
like to have dinner with and why.
31:05
Yeah, well, I go back to my number one is my son Jasper.
31:13
First, because he's the most hilarious person I know, and
31:16
it's the most enjoyable dinner. And, you know, sometimes we play
31:19
chess, which is super fun. He has since gone off to college
31:23
and left his mom. So I hope, you know, he watches
31:26
to the end of this video. He knows how disappointing that
31:28
is. You know, I'm very proud of him.
31:30
So he's always, always, always my number one choice.
31:34
Second, I would say my father, my father passed away when I was
31:37
very young, when I was 2 years old from CNS disorder.
31:41
And you know, that really drives and motivates me personally.
31:47
It's, you know, sort of my North Star understanding how the brain
31:52
works and, and how to fix it. And, you know, so I think given
31:55
the opportunity, you know, definitely on the list.
32:00
And then third, you know, I may say a category instead of one
32:05
single person, but pioneering women in science and in
32:09
medicine, historically, this has been really, really, really
32:13
tough. And the ability to have dinner,
32:16
you know, with anyone, Marie Curie, anyone who occupies that
32:20
space to just learn and understand and understand the
32:23
challenges. And, you know, there are great
32:26
stories behind what the outcome is.
32:29
So that that's the three that I would choose.
32:32
Two specific people and one category for some.
32:35
Yeah. Well, the three great answers
32:37
there and thanks again for coming on and helping us out
32:40
with this. It sounds like you've got a
32:42
super exciting year ahead of you at Brennig and I'm looking
32:45
forward to following the progress there.
32:46
And yeah, sounds like a super exciting time for the company.
32:50
So thanks again for coming on and helping us out with this.
32:53
It was a it was a pleasure. Yeah, Tom, thank you so much and
32:57
I really appreciate the opportunity to speak with you
33:00
and and talk about the great work at Brennig.
33:02
Thanks.