Shows / Making Medicine
Making Medicine
There's a scientific breakthrough in your medicine cabinet. But how did it get there?
At a time when medicines are helping us all live longer and healthier lives, this podcast will explore where these taken-for-granted miracles come from, how many of them almost never happened, where the life science ecosystem is taking us next, and most importantly, what it means for patients.
From chance meetings that led to new ideas, to risky investments that never pay off, hear from the people behind…
Episodes
- Making Medicine
MassBio’s 2025 Snapshot: VC Gravity, Policy & a Competitiveness Playbook | Kendalle Burlin O’Connell
This week, John Stanford sits down with Kendalle Burlin O’Connell (CEO & President, MassBio) to unpack the 2025 Industry Snapshot - why Massachusetts still…
- Making Medicine
Trump’s Tariffs, NIH Cuts, FDA Approvals & SBIR Debate | This Week in Making Medicine
In this week’s episode, John Stanford breaks down the latest headlines across Washington, the FDA, NIH, and industry. We cover the Trump cabinet’s tariff-drug…
- Making Medicine
Ned Sharpless on Biotech’s Future, HHS Shifts, and Global Competition | Making Medicine Podcast
This week, John Stanford sits down with Dr. Ned Sharpless - former NCI Director, Acting FDA Commissioner, and now venture capitalist at Jupiter Bio Ventures…
- Making Medicine
FDA Shake-Ups & mRNA Funding Cuts | Industry Perspectives with Patrick Jordan
In this episode, John Stanford dives into the latest policy and science headlines - from Dr. Vinay Prasad’s dramatic exit and return to the FDA, to HHS’s $500M…
- Making Medicine
President Trump’s “Most Favored Nation” Drug Pricing Plan: Good Deal or Dangerous Gamble?
This week on the Making Medicine Podcast, John Stanford dives into the “Most Favored Nation” (MFN) pricing concept, championed by President Trump, and what it…
- Making Medicine
Listener Q&A: Drug Price Controls, EU Tariffs, and the August Recess | Making Medicine Podcast
In this week’s special Q&A episode, John Stanford tackles your biggest questions from around the biotech and policy world. From the growing list of drug price…
- Making Medicine
Unpacking Uncertainty: Trump’s Health Policies & Future of FDA | Press Pass with Nyah Phengsitthy
In this special Press Pass episode of the Making Medicine Podcast, John Stanford welcomes Nyah Phengsitthy of Bloomberg Law to break down the latest shifts in…
- Making Medicine
Trump’s 200% Pharma Tariff? Timeline, Impacts, and What Comes Next | Making Medicine Podcast
In this week’s episode, John Stanford breaks down the evolving story of President Trump’s aggressive tariff strategy—focusing on a potential 200% tariff on…
- Making Medicine
Big Beautiful Bill Breakdown, Orphan Cures Win, and What’s Next | Making Medicine Podcast Relaunch
John Stanford kicks off the official relaunch of the Making Medicine Podcast with a deep dive into the "one big beautiful bill" that’s shaking up Washington…
- Making Medicine
When Progress Gets Penalized: Biotech in the Age of IRA
The path to new medicines is complex enough - policy doesn’t need to make it more difficult. But it does. In this episode, Thomas Kaiser, Co-Founder and Chief…
- Making Medicine
Bridging Science and Business: A Conversation with Professor Fred Ledley
In this episode of The Making Medicine podcast, John Stanford sits down with Professor Fred Ledley, Director of the Center for Integration of Science and…
- Making Medicine
Can We Fix Healthcare? A Look Inside Our System
The U.S. healthcare system is a puzzle for many. To fix it, we need smarter discussions and a deeper understanding of both the industry and the policies that…
- Making Medicine
Protecting Innovation: Small Molecules and the Future of Medicine
Science should lead our policy decisions—not the other way around. In this episode, Kirsten Axelson, Senior Policy Lab Advisor at Incubate Coalition, dives…
- Making Medicine
CEO Series Part 1: Sherine Chan, CEO & Co-founder of Neuroene Therapeutics
As part of our inaugural CEO series, we're excited to welcome Sherine Chan, the CEO and Co-Founder of Neuroene Therapeutics. In this episode, Sherine shares…
- Making Medicine
Dispelling Misconceptions in Biopharmaceutical IP Regulation
On World IP Day, Kirsten Axelsen, Senior Advisor of the Incubate Policy Lab, joins host John Stanford to announce the newest whitepaper, delve into the myths…
- Making Medicine
When the Feds Come Marching In: A Deep Dive on The Bayh-Dole Act
Joe Allen, Executive Director of The Bayh-Dole Coalition, was at the forefront of the Bayh-Dole Act back in December 1980, which allowed researchers to own…
- Making Medicine
Beyond Medicine: Solving Disparities in Cancer Care
How can we create better outcomes for cancer patients? That’s the big goal Mohit Manrao is aiming for in his work as SVP & Head of US Oncology at AstraZeneca…
- Making Medicine
Balancing Access and Affordability in the Future of Healthcare
Can we create a future healthcare system that is accessible and affordable for all patients? That’s the major question that Mary R. Grealy, CEO of Healthcare…
- Making Medicine
Making Patients the Center of U.S. Healthcare Reform
With recent movement in healthcare including President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot and the Inflation Reduction Act, one thing is clear: American healthcare is at a…
- Making Medicine
Innovations in Women’s Health & Entrepreneurship
Even though 80% of the household decisions around health are made by women, only 4% of research and funding goes towards women’s health research. In today’s…
- Making Medicine
The Inflation Reduction Act: A Big Issue for Small-Molecule Medicine
Runaway inflation and economic instability is terrible for just about everybody, but are efforts to tackle this problem creating more? To answer that, Kirsten…
- Making Medicine
From the JP Morgan Conference: The Impact of the Inflation Reduction Act
John was at the JP Morgan conference and is here to discuss the key takeaways of the Inflation Reduction Act: the small-molecule penalty, the value of…
- Making Medicine
Drug Investment Under the Inflation Reduction Act
How will the Inflation Reduction Act affect life sciences startups, current and future revenues, and drug investment? What will happen to patients amidst the…
- Making Medicine
The Three Pillars of Bio & Med Tech Investing and Industry Impact of DEI
When you’re working to make good investments in bio and med tech there are three key pillars to consider: science, the management team and finance. But how…
- Making Medicine
Understanding Health Equity w/ Dr. Jerome Adams
Everyone wants to make healthy choices. But we don't always have an opportunity to make healthy choices. In today’s episode, we speak with Dr. Jerome Adams…
- Making Medicine
Addressing The Overlooked AMR Problem w/ Dr. Henry Skinner
Investors are logical people. They invest in medicines that they expect will give them a return. Right now, there’s far too little investment in developing new…
- Making Medicine
Pro-Patient Reforms: The Outlook for 2022
We’ll be the first to say that the healthcare system is broken, especially in patient access complexity. However, we see three areas where we can execute…
- Making Medicine
How Better Data Fosters Health Equity w/ Kirsten Axelsen
If we want data and clinical trials that meaningfully represent the population of people who take the drug, we’ll need to do more than just issue guides. In…
- Making Medicine
Winning the Drug Development Relay Race w/ Johannes Fruehauf
Drug development is a relay race because you pass the baton to the next runner who will take it to the next level. You are proud to have made it onto the…
- Making Medicine
New Modalities: The Future of Drug Development w/ Jean-Francois Formela
Drug policy debate today is like a wetland. It’s the heart of the ecosystem that has to be preserved at all costs — or else we lose the wetlands, the shore…
- Making Medicine
The Investor’s Paradox, Drug Development, & Price Controls w/ Peter Kolchinsky
Today’s guest describes drug development in the American healthcare market with the analogy of mortgages and rents. People would rather pay higher mortgages…
- Making Medicine
MIT Takeover: A MedTech-VC Partnership Working to Reduce Parkinson’s Tremors
How does an MIT senior year capstone project evolve into an early-stage biotech that creates wearable solutions for Parkinson’s tremors? Listen to Daniel…
- Making Medicine
Venture Capital Investors: The Underwriters of Innovation w/ Janis Naeve, Brian Bradbury, and Alan Brookhart
As we follow innovation along the R&D value chain, we come across some compelling contributions to the healthcare ecosystem. Venture capital investors. Causal…
- Making Medicine
The Hidden Cost of Price Control Policies w/ Kirsten Axelsen
The price control policies that are being discussed in Congress have the potential to harm innovation in the life science industry. But how, exactly? In this…
- Making Medicine
You Cannot Make Medicine Alone: Relationships & Mentoring w/ Imran Nasrullah
What goes into a bottle of new medicine is more than the proverbial 15 years and $2 billion. It takes great science, certainly, but it also takes 15 years of…
- Making Medicine
Improving the Standard of Care w/ Patients in Mind
High cost out-of-pocket drugs and obstacles to reduce those prices for patients plague the health industry. With patients in mind, organizations are looking to…
- Making Medicine
The Truth About Pharmaceuticals w/ Ravi Mehrotra
As it turns out, many perceptions about the pharmaceutical industry are based without all of the facts. That’s why we’re sitting down to understand the data…
- Making Medicine
Valuing Inventors & Entrepreneurs: Changing the Dialogue of IP w/ Andrei Iancu
Intellectual property (IP) rights have been the driving force behind innovation and entrepreneurship. However, IP has more recently been seen in a negative…
- Making Medicine
AMR: Challenges and Insight w/ Alfonso Chang
The fight against Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is challenging due to financial, ethical, and legislative issues. Combating infectious disease can prove to be…
- Making Medicine
40 Years in Review: Bayh-Dole to 2021 w/ Joe Allen
In 1980, the Bayh-Dole Act was enacted by U.S. Congress, which changed how ownership of an invention is pursued. Almost 40 years later, how has this act fared?…
- Making Medicine
Making Medicine: An Origin Story
From chance meetings to risky investments, Making Medicine explores the origin stories of life changing medication and how patients, corporations and…