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Optimum Perspectives Podcast

Optimum Perspectives Podcast features regular episodes highlighting the latest innovation and developments in life sciences, with industry leaders of the healthcare sector.

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On World Sleep Day 2026, Optimum is marking the occasion with a brand-new podcast episode featuring Magnus Ivarsson, CSO of AstronauTx and Prof. Liz Coulthard from the University of Bristol.

Did you know getting enough high quality sleep could help protect against developing neurological diseases including Alzheimer’s? This episode delves into the groundbreaking research our guests are doing in the intersection between sleep and neurodegeneration.

Magnus Ivarsson

AstronauTx

Prof. Liz Coulthard

University of Bristol

Eva Haas

Optimum

Ahead of Rare Disease Day 2026, Optimum is marking the occasion with a brand-new podcast episode featuring Hans Schambye, CEO of BOOST Pharma, Jean-Marie Cuillerot, CMO of Kainova Therapeutics, and Josep Prous, Co‑founder & CSO of CONNECTA Therapeutics.

This episode delves into the critical gaps in therapeutic options for the more than 300 million people living with rare diseases worldwide and explores why this field is rapidly gaining attention from both researchers and investors.

Our guests also share insights into their life‑changing work across brittle bone disease, oncology, and fragile X syndrome, highlighting the breakthroughs that are bringing new hope to patients and families.

Hans Schambye

BOOST Pharma

Jean-Marie Cuillerot

Kainova Therapeutics

Josep Prous

CONNECTA Therapeutics

On this International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we’re shifting the spotlight to the women funding the future of innovation.

This celebratory episode of the #OptimumPerspectivesPodcast, hosted by Optimum CEO Mary Clark, explores how female venture capitalists are shaping the future of science, technology, and innovation, and why who funds science matters almost as much as who does the science.

Listen to the full episode featuring Victoria Taylor of Medicxi, Bonnie van Wilgenburg of Monograph Capital and Noga Yerushalmi of M Ventures.

Victoria Taylor

Medicxi

Bonnie van Wilgenburg

Monograph Capital

Noga Yershalmi

M Ventures

Mary Clark

Optimum Strategic Communications


Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is an increasingly wide-scale problem. Not contained by borders, and with the ability to turn minor infections into life threatening conditions, it is an issue that experts argue must be addressed in the present, not the future.

Hear from Jennifer Schneider of Centauri Therapeutics, Franz-Werner Haas of LimmaTech Biologics and Neil Murray of ReNewVax on their unique approaches to tackling the threat of AMR, in the latest episode of the Optimum Perspectives Podcast.

Jennifer Schneider

Centauri Therapeutics

Franz-Werner Haas

LimmaTech Biologics

Neil Murray

ReNewVax

Just in time for World ADC San Diego 2025 – a brand new episode of the Optimum Perspectives Podcast is live!

Join Francois Bertelli of DISCO Pharmaceuticals, Stefano Gulla of Kling Biotherapeutics, and Michael Bauer of Novo Holdings, as they dive into the hot topic: ‘The ups and downs of ADCs – where to now?’

Expect sharp insights and forward-looking perspectives on the evolving ADC landscape. Listen to the full episode here

Francois Bertelli

DISCO Pharmaceuticals

Stefano Gulla

Kling Biotherapeutics

Michael Bauer

Novo Holdings

The latest episode of Optimum Perspectives Podcast has just dropped, featuring LoQus23 Therapeutics’ Chief Scientific Officer and founder, Caroline Benn!

Listen as Caroline details the devastating effects of Huntington’s Disease on patients and families, her personal motivations for working in this therapeutic area, as well as LoQus23’s unique approach to battling the disease through their innovative small molecule approach.

Caroline Benn

LoQus23 Therapeutics Therapeutics

Eva Haas

Optimum Strategic Communications

On the latest episode of the #OptimumPerspectives podcast, Optimum Strategic Communications’ Managing Director Eva Haas spoke with Curve Therapeutics CSO and Co-Founder Ali Tavassoli, who has today been awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Interdisciplinary Prize.

Listen below as Ali reflects on his scientific journey which has led him to this tremendous recognition, from what inspired his passion for science, to how he came to meet Curve CEO Simon Kerry, with whom he co-founded the Company. Curve’s is using its revolutionary gene-encoded Microcycle® platform to build a pipeline of innovative cyclic peptide and small molecule drugs addressing intracellular targets, with a focus on cancer, immunology and inflammation.

Prof Ali Tavassoli

Curve Therapeutics

Eva Haas

Optimum Strategic Communications

Listen to our Rare Disease Day Optimum Perspecitives podcast special featuring Tahira Mathur, Patient Advocate and Kate Adcock, Director of Research & Innovation at Optimum’s chosen charity Muscular Dystrophy UK, alongside Jasper Morrow, consultant neurologist at University College London Hospital.

This emotional yet hopeful episode highlights the importance of raising awareness of rare conditions, while discussing patient care, diagnosis, and genetic testing for Muscular Dystrophy.

If you would like to contribute to the life changing work of Muscular Dystrophy UK, or find out more about Tahira’s story living with GNE myopathy, visit her page here: Tahira’s Team – JustGiving

Richard Staines

Optimum Strategic Communications

Tahira Mathur

Muscular Dystrophy UK

Dr. Kate Adcock

Muscular Dystrophy UK

Dr. Jasper Morrow

University College London Hospital

Want to know how bioengineered spider silk protein fibres can be applied within the textile, biomedical and automobile industries?

In the latest episode of Optimum Perspectives, hear from Benoit Cugnet, Head of Fiber Business Unit at AMSilk, on how this German biotech is changing the face of advanced materials.

Benoit Cugnet

AMSilk

Nick Bastin

Optimum Strategic Communications

Want to know how to prepare yourself for the perfect IPO on NASDAQ?

Hear from Lynn Lewis, CEO of Gilmartin Group, Optimum’s US partner, on the considerations and milestones to reach before listing.

Lynn Lewis

Gilmartin Group

Nick Bastin

Optimum Strategic Communications

The latest epiosde of Optimum Perspectives Podcast features Germo Gericke, CMO of Ariceum Therapeutics. Listen as he discusses how the company aims to improve outcomes for patients with lung cancer with radioligand therapy this Lung Cancer Awareness Month.

Germo Gericke

Ariceum Therapeutics

Richard Staines

Optimum Strategic Communications

Great new insights in Optimum Perspectives’ latest podcast edition featuring Stefano Gullà, Chief Scientific Officer at Kling Biotherapeutics, about the growing role of B-cell technology in cancer therapy.  

Stefano Gulla

Kling Biotherapeutics

Richard Staines

Optimum Strategic Communications

In this podcast to mark Lung Cancer Awareness Month, Optimum’s Richard Staines speaks to Roman Thomas, CEO and founder of DISCO Pharmaceuticals, on breakthroughs that have improved patient outcomes, and the company’s efforts to help develop new therapies with its “surfaceome” technology. 

Roman Thomas

DISCO Pharmaceuticals

Richard Staines

Optimum Strategic Communications

Optimum’s Richard Staines talks to Feride Sahin, Senior Director of Clinical Development at Splice Bio about the importance of World Sight Day, which takes place this week. 

Feride Sahin

SpliceBio

Richard Staines

Optimum Strategic Communications

It’s time to talk about mushrooms! Or rather the deadly toxin amanitin found in the death cap mushroom, which Heidelberg Pharma is using as a cancer drug with the help of a tumour-targeting antibody, featuring Heidelberg Pharma’s CEO, Andreas Pahl.

Andreas Pahl

Heidelberg Pharma

Richard Staines

Optimum Strategic Communications

Check out Optimum’s latest podcast episode profiling our client Resolution Therapeutics. Lara Campana, VP of Research Operations outlines the company’s technology based around pro-regenerative macrophages and its potential to treat liver disease.

Lara Campana

Resolution Therapeutics

Nick Bastin

Optimum Strategic Communications

Dr Ruth McKernan CBE is the richly deserved winner of the 2024 Mediscience Award for ‘Most Significant Contribution to the Mediscience Sector’. In this episode Optimum’s Eva Haas discusses the highlights of Ruth’s incredible career, the skills needed for success as a company founder and the heartening advancements in treating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s in recent years.

Ruth McKernan

CBE

Eva Haas

Optimum Strategic Communications

Listen to expert discussion on the role of AI in drug development, featuring Tushar Pandey, CEO and Co-founder of SimBioSys, and Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma.

Jeremy Skillington

Poolbeg Pharma

Tushar Pandey

SimBioSys

Richard Staines

Optimum Strategic Communications

Southampton-based Curve Therapeutics recently raised a hefty £40m in a Series A financing round.

In this in-depth podcast, CEO Simon Kerry describes how investors fell in love with Curve’s “Microcycle” based discovery platform, which gives the company “the ability to potentially identify drugs against very difficult, challenging targets”.

He explains how Curve’s platform enables them to spot drugs with a higher chance of working in real-world conditions. He also outlines the firm’s lead programme – which aims to block two cancer targets called Hypoxia Inducible Factors, or “HIFs”, which enable solid tumours to survive in low-oxygen conditions.

Speaking to Optimum’s Stephen Adams, Simon ponders the role of luck in securing investment, both “the kind you deserve because you turn over a lot of stones”, and the more fortuitous variety.

Simon Kerry

Curve Therapeutics

Stephen Adams

Optimum Strategic Communications

Listen to the latest insights from Gil Bar-Nahum, Managing Director in the Global Healthcare Investment Banking Group, Jefferies International, on how to succeed in the new wave of biotech IPOs in the Optimum Perspectives podcast.

Gil Bar-Nahum

Jefferies International

Nick Bastin

Optimum Strategic Communications

Eva Haas

Optimum Strategic Communications

Check out Optimum’s latest Optimum Perspectives Podcast episode featuring the stars of the 20th Anglonordic Life Science Conference in London. Hear industry leaders give their thoughts on trends within the life science industry and the optimistic mood of the markets in 2024!

Richard Staines

Optimum Strategic Communications

Diverse recruitment for clinical trials  is a huge issue – but what can drug developers do to overcome this challenge? Join Optimum’s Richard Staines as he discuses this thorny issue with Ariceum Therapeutic’s CMO, Germo Gericke, Leucid Bio’s CSO, John Maher and Non-Executive Director & Thought Leader Annalisa Jenkins.

Richard Staines

Optimum Strategic Communications

Annalisa Jenkins

Non-Executive Director

Germo Gericke

Ariceum Therapeutics

John Maher

Leucid Bio

Following recent encouraging interim clinical results, hear Øystein Rekdal, CEO of Lytix Biopharma, discuss with Optimum’s Nick Bastin how the company’s lead candidate LTX-315 has a unique approach to killing cancer.

Øystein Rekdal

Lytix Biopharma

Nick Bastin

Optimum Strategic Communications


To mark Rare Disease Day on 29 February, Optimum Perspectives podcast interviews a panel of experts who discuss the opportunities and challenges for developers of therapies for rare diseases in 2024.

Giusy Di Conza

iOnctura

Miquel Vila-Perelló

SpliceBio

Ahmed Mousa

Vicore Pharma

Jean-Philippe Combal

Vivet Therapeutics

In this Optimum Perspectives celebratory episode for International Day of Women & Girls in Science, hear from five influential women on how they broke down gender barriers to succeed in the life science industry.

Chaired by esteemed journalist Lisa Urquhart, hear guest speakers Renee Aguiar-Lucander of Calliditas, Lene Gerlach of EIR Ventures & WiLD, Bita Sehat of Trill Impact, and Ninna Struck Rossen of Metsystem, share their stories on being women in life sciences, and how to succeed in the industry.

Lisa Urquhart

Chair, International Journalist

Renée Aguiar-Lucander

Calliditas Therapeutics

Lene Gerlach

EIR Ventures & WiLD Network

Bita Sehat

Trill Impact

Ninna Struck Rossen

Metsystem

Happy 1st birthday to the Optimum Perspectives Podcast! Since launching, 1000s of listens have grown the show into an excellent hub of intel from top tier life science guests. Listen now to our anniversary special, where Optimum’s Mary Clark, Nick Bastin and Eva Haas discuss the findings of our insightful European Life Sciences Investor survey!

Read the full report here.

Mary Clark

Nick Bastin

Eva Haas

Hear Vicore Pharma’s CEO, Ahmed Mousa speak to Optimum’s Richard Staines on their new treatment for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), C21. It aims to improve available treatments for patients of IPF by halting the progression of fibrosis and has the aim of restoring lung function.

Ahmed Mousa

Vicore Pharma

Richard Staines

Optimum Strategic Communications

In this insightful and emotional podcast episode, the co-founder of Ariana Smiles – a Special Named Fund at CCLG UK, Stephanie Seales Gabbitas shares her mission to improve the lives of children diagnosed with Leukaemia by raising funds for research into precision oncology medicine.

This Christmas, if you can, please join us in donating to this lifechanging charity here.

Stephanie Seales Gabbitas

Ariana Smiles

Nick Bastin

Optimum Strategic Communications

There is a lack of effective treatments for Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma (CTCL) – in this podcast episode Jason Loveridge, CEO of 4SC, talked to Optimum Strategic Communications’ Eva Haas about the Company’s potential new maintenance therapy Kinselby (resminostat).

4SC is a late-stage biotech improving lives for patients suffering with advanced-stage Cutaneous T Cell Lymphoma (CTCL).

It has developed Kinselby (resminostat), a novel, oral, maintenance treatment targeting advanced-CTCL, a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that affects the skin. There are no drugs in development or on the market as maintenance therapy for CTCL.

Kinselby (resminostat) is an orally administered histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor that has produced supportive results in the pivotal RESMAIN trial, where it postponed disease progression in patients – a new treatment paradigm in CTCL.

Jason Loveridge

4SC AG

Eva Haas

Optimum Strategic Communications

Optimum celebrated its 15th Annual Healthcare Investor Conference – marking its crystal anniversary – and what a sparkler it was! In the latest episode of Optimum Perspectives Podcast, Richard Staines talks through the top takeaways from the October event with special testimonials from our guests.

Richard Staines

Optimum Strategic Communications

Episode 9 of Optimum Perspectives Podcast features Optimum’s Richard Staines and Eva Haas, who discuss the hot areas for investment in the shifting biotech market – including antibody-drug conjugates, smart radiotherapies, mRNA and immune-oncology.

Want us to explore a topic further? Let us know!

Eva Haas

Optimum Strategic Communications

Richard Staines

Optimum Strategic Communications

Alchemab aims to revolutionise drug discovery with a novel alternative to the classic “choose a target” approach. 

Alchemab specifically looks to identify shared antibodies from people who have shown resilience to disease – the unexpectedly well. The company then uses its proprietary technology to identify which targets these antibodies are binding to, and what diseases these targets are associated with.  

Optimum Strategic Communications’ Richard Staines caught up with Alchemab’s CEO, Young Kwon, to find out more. 

Young Kwon

Alchemab Therapeutics

Richard Staines

Optimum Strategic Communications

No-one is likely to forget the tragic events of 2020 and one company leading efforts to prepare for the next pandemic is Poolbeg Pharma.

Optimum Strategic Communications’ Richard Staines interviewed CEO Jeremy Skillington to find out how Poolbeg is using AI to expedite discovery of new flu drugs.

Poolbeg is working on a drug that aims to block some of the worst effects of influenza, neutralising the over-reaction from the body’s immune system known as a “cytokine storm” that produces many of the ill effects following a flu infection. 

Jeremy Skillington

Poolbeg Pharma

Richard Staines

Optimum Strategic Communications

A much-anticipated new potential drug for COPD moved a step closer to the market after Verona Pharma submitted its New Drug Application to the U.S. FDA, seeking approval of ensifentrine as a maintenance therapy. In its latest podcast, Optimum Strategic Communications caught up with Chris Martin, Senior Vice President of Commercial, who discussed how the company plans to launch this potential novel COPD medicine.

Chris Martin

Verona Pharma

Eva Haas

Optimum Strategic Communications

Today’s funding environment for small biotechs is tough. Valuations are down and money is tighter than it used to be – both for publicly listed and privately held firms.  

In these circumstances, obtaining the right backing – both in terms of finance and managerial advice – is more important than ever.  

In the fifth Optimum Perspectives podcast experienced investor Søren Møller talks to Optimum’s Stephen Adams about Novo Holdings Seed Investments’ approach to working with biotechs and what early-stage companies should look for in a financing partner. 

Søren Møller

Novo Holdings Seed Investments

Stephen Adams

Optimum Strategic Communications

How do you take a tiny private Swedish biotech and turn it into a successful, publicly-listed company operating on both sides of the Atlantic, in just six years?

Listen to Renée Aguiar-Lucander, CEO of Calliditas Therapeutics, tell Optimum’s Richard Staines how they brought TARPEYO, the first FDA-approved drug for the rare kidney disease primary IgA nephropathy, to market.

She describes her ‘incredible journey’ growing the firm from less than 10 staff to more than 200, taking it public in Europe and the US, running a global Phase III trial, and how Tarpeyo can help people with IgA nephropathy live more normal lives.

Renee Aguair-Lucander

Calliditas Therapeutics

Richard Staines

Optimum Strategic Communications

In this episode of Optimum Perspectives Podcast, our in-house IR expert, ex-Fund Manager Eva Haas interviewed Dan Mahony, Chairman of the BioIndustry Association (BIA), following his appointment as UK Life Sciences Investment Envoy to hear his plans for championing the UK’s Life Sciences industry.

Dan Mahony

Chairman of the BioIndustry Association (BIA)

Eva Haas

Optimum Strategic Communications

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is a common and debilitating problem for many women, particularly after childbirth or in later years.

Yet, despite this, treatment options are limited, held back by a lack of research into medical products focused on women’s health.

Versameb, hopes to change this with a novel mRNA therapy that rebuilds the urinary sphincter and is about to enter clinical trials. In this podcast, Optimum Communications’s Richard Staines caught up with the Versameb team to find out more.

Klaas Zuideveld

Versameb

Isabel Ferreira

Versameb

Roger Dmochowski

Versameb

Richard Staines

Optimum Strategic Communications

Our host Richard Staines, Account Director at Optimum, discusses the latest clinical findings from inobrodib, an oral cancer therapy developed by the UK biotech CellCentric.

In our first episode, we hear from Jan Ross, a patient who discusses the pressing need for new therapies for multiple myeloma with fewer side effects. We also talk to top cancer experts – Tim Somervaille, Consultant in Haematology , at the Christie Hospital in Manchester, Karen Knudsen, Chief Executive of the American Cancer Society, Dr Leif Bergsagel, Consultant in the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, and Will West, Chief Executive Officer of CellCentric.

Will West

Cellcentric

Karen Knudsen

American Cancer Society

Tim Somervaille

The Christie, CRUK

Leif Bergsagel

Mayo Clinic

Richard Staines

Optimum Strategic Communications


© Optimum Strategic Communications.