Latest Interviews
Showing 1–7 of 7 transcripts.
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Inside Moderna’s Biggest mRNA Test Since COVID
Moderna and Merck announced that their personalized mRNA cancer vaccine, Intismoran, successfully met primary and secondary endpoints in a Phase 3 melanoma trial, demonstrating superior recurrence-free survival compared to the current standard of care. This breakthrough treatment combines a patient-specific mRNA vaccine with Merck's Keytruda to target unique tumor antigens, offering a synthetic manufacturing solution that can produce individualized doses within approximately 42 days. Building on these results, the companies plan to file for FDA approval with the goal of patient availability by 2027 while expanding clinical trials to lung, kidney, and bladder cancers.
- a16z25 min
Mastering Your Data with Sajith Wickramasekara
Sajith Wickramasekara, Jorge Conde, Jay Rughani
Founded in 2012 by a software engineer before CRISPR's mainstream adoption, Benchling has scaled into a platform serving over 200,000 scientists across 32 countries with $200 million in annualized revenue. The company evolved from a productivity tool into an essential data infrastructure provider, addressing the critical lack of structured data required to unlock AI's potential for accelerating drug discovery and manufacturing. Future strategies focus on unifying this aggregated data into a cohesive ecosystem to optimize therapeutic development from molecule design through clinical approval.
- a16z25 min
Big Ideas in 2024: Programming Medicine’s Final Frontier with Jorge Conde
Jorge Conde of a16z Bio + Health proposes "programming medicine" as a paradigm shift that reuses delivery platforms like SpaceX rockets to accelerate the development of genetic therapies beyond traditional bespoke drug cycles. This approach, validated by the recent FDA approval of a CRISPR-based sickle cell treatment achieved in just over a decade, aims to transform biological manufacturing through regulatory adaptability and engineering precision. Despite current hurdles regarding permanent safety, complex logistics, and multi-million dollar costs, the strategy seeks to apply exponential scaling to reduce treatment prices from millions to thousands of dollars for broader patient access.
- a16z41 min
a16z Podcast | What's in the Water at the George Church Lab?
George Church, Jorge Conde, Hannah
George Church analyzes the 2018 Chinese CRISPR baby case as a pivotal, government-tolerated precedent for germline editing that bypassed ethical moratoriums through a technical strategy of *CCR5* knockout for HIV resistance. He predicts that, similar to the 1978 test-tube baby phenomenon, this "n of 1" success will accelerate adoption and regulation rather than halt research, shifting the field from treatment toward preventative genomic medicine. While Church advocates for robust privacy frameworks like zero-dollar genomes and encryption to overcome security barriers, his broader vision prioritizes environmental applications like mammoth de-extinction over non-therapeutic human editing.
- a16z36 min
a16z Podcast | Connecting Hearts, Bodies, and Networks to Cure Cancer
Amy Abernethy, Christina Lopes, Jorge Conde, Sonal
Amy Abernethy has been selected as the new Principal Deputy Commissioner of the FDA, where she aims to advance personalized medicine and accelerate evidence generation following her tenure at Flatiron Health. Her appointment aligns with the growing adoption of One Health strategies, a platform co-founded by Cristina Lopez that leverages spontaneous canine cancer data to validate human therapies. By treating dogs as natural clinical models with fully functional immune systems, this initiative promises to save costs in drug development and improve outcomes for both veterinary and human patients through shared real-world evidence.
- a16z22 min
a16z Podcast | When (and How) Biology Becomes Engineering
The event details the transformative shift in biology from a stochastic, discovery-based science to a standardized engineering discipline that treats biological components as predictable, interchangeable parts. Interdisciplinary innovation and machine learning now drive this transition by enabling repeatable design-build-refine cycles that replace traditional high-risk experimentation with data-driven predictability. This engineering mindset aims to commercialize biological platforms through measurable success rates and sustainable infrastructure, ultimately making previously impossible medical and industrial goals achievable through compounding technological improvements.
- a16z27 min
Shifting Risk Mindsets, from Tech to Bio
Jorge Conde, Vijay Pande, Jeff Low, Jeffrey Lowe
Bio-hybrid startups face critical challenges in translating novel technologies to traditional biological partners and avoiding the "death by a thousand pilots" trap through strategic deal structures. Founders must carefully position their platforms to capture value in high-impact areas like Phase III failure prediction while isolating asset risks via legal separation to prevent resource drain. Successful execution requires a hybrid approach to funding and partnership, where founders bridge the linguistic gap between tech and bio communities to align reimbursement models with long-term investor expectations.