Trump’s Most-Favored-Nation Drug Pricing is Rewiring Traditional R&D Models
Trump’s Most-Favored-Nation Drug Pricing is Rewiring Traditional R&D Models
11th September, 2025 |
Join us for the latest edition of 𝐨𝟐𝐡 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫, where industry thought leaders delve into the return of MFN drug pricing and its impact on biotech innovation, strategic partnerships, and investment planning. This thought-provoking discussion features a distinguished panel: Hilary Schultz (Founder & CEO, Persephoni BioPartners), Shreefal Mehta (Member, Research and Entrepreneurial Advisory Committee, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India – BIRAC), and Mahesh Narayanan (CEO & Co-founder, MatchPlay), chaired by Sunil Shah, Co-founder of o2h Discovery.
Together, the panel explores how MFN policy could reshape global R&D strategies, shift funding priorities, and influence where clinical trials are conducted. With perspectives spanning biotech entrepreneurship, public policy, and early-stage investing, this session delivers timely insight for biotech leaders, investors, and innovators navigating a rapidly evolving global landscape.
Empowering early-stage biotech: The o2h kickstarter boost
Empowering early-stage biotech: The o2h kickstarter boost
26th May, 2023 |
15:00 BST
We launched our first “o2h Kickstarter competition” back in August 2022 exclusively for early-stage biotech to boost their drug discovery research. The program has been able to extend o2h discovery’s small molecule and medicinal chemistry research expertise to seed early stage biotech companies who have innovative ideas in drug science and are planning to push it forward to the next milestones.
Listen as we discuss how this competition supported their research and development efforts and enabled successful pivots in their growth journey. Delving into topics such as acquiring resources, navigating regulations, and identifying target therapeutics, we will also explore their future plans.
Biotech and IPOs
Biotech and IPOs
15th October, 2021 |
16:00 BST
Over the recent months, we have seen three companies in o2h Ventures portfolio either list on AiM, reverse onto the TSX and others that are considering a flotation on NASDAQ.
We have seen over 100 Biotech IPOs in 2020, double the year earlier. Do our British bankers still have the scars of the fallen star ‘British Biotech’ in the late 90’s and thus happy to let the best UK biotech to float for billions across the globe or are they now happy to let these demons rest.
This ChaiTime was chaired by Sunil Shah, CEO of o2h Ventures.
In the panel we had:
Michael Kauffman, Co-founder Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: KPTI)
Sarah Howell, CEO Arecor Therapeutics plc (LSE:AREC)
Peter Rands, CEO and Co-founder Small Pharma Inc. (TSXV:DMT)
Tiffany Thorn - CEO and Co-founder BiVictriX Therapeutics plc (LSE:BVX)
#o2hChaiTime #BiotechandIPOs #BiotechInvesting #DrugDiscovery #HumanHealth #BritishBiotech
The Drug Hunters – Christmas Special
The Drug Hunters – Christmas Special
18th December, 2020 |
15:00 BST
We had our truly global o2h ChaiTime webinar on the topic 'The Drug Hunters' on 18th December at 3.00 PM GMT (10.00 AM EST/ 8.30 PM IST), where we hosted some of the most experienced Drug Hunters on the planet.
Host and Chairperson:
Sunil Shah, CEO @o2h Group
Panellists:
Karin Briner, Vice President @ Novartis
Dr. Briner is a medicinal chemist and Dr. Briner joined Novartis as Global Head of GDC in June 2011. She is a member of the senior leadership team of NIBR and has responsibilities for discovery chemistry research across all disease areas; this includes research groups in Cambridge MA, Basel Switzerland, Emeryville CA, and Shanghai.
Peter Hamley, Chief Scientific Officer @ Samsara Therapeutics
Peter is a recognized industry leader in drug discovery, having spent 15 years at Sanofi, most recently as Global Head of External Innovation, Drug Discovery. He led global medicinal and automated chemistry, natural product and antibody drug conjugate departments across Germany, France, and the US, with divisions of more than 100 international FTEs, and has contributed to the advancement of many projects into clinical development across multiple therapeutic areas.
Christopher Smith Senior, Director @ Mirati Therapeutics
Chris is a medicinal chemist with over 20 years experience as a Entrepreneurial Drug Discovery leader with a track record of leading multiple drug discovery projects from hit identification to IND. Previously, he was director of medicinal chemistry at Adrenergics and at COI Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining COI and Adenergics, Smith was the director of immunology chemistry for Takeda San Diego. Prior to that he was a principal research scientist with Eli Lilly.
Hemal Soni, Head of Chemistry @ o2h Discovery
Hemal is the Head of the PR&D at o2h discovery and is spearheading the chemistry team of ~200 chemists having led projects with many USA, UK, EU and Japanese biotech and pharma collaborators around the world.
#DrugDiscovery #Biotech #Chemistry #Therapeutics
Next Wave of Britain’s Most Exciting Biotechs- From Small Molecule to Quantum Computing…
Next Wave of Britain’s Most Exciting Biotechs- From Small Molecule to Quantum Computing…
4th December, 2020 |
15:00 BST
We had a very interesting #o2h ChaiTime on 4th December at 3.00 PM BST where we brought together the CEO’s of three of Britain’s most exciting Biotech’s that have recently or will recently close their Seed rounds with @o2h Ventures. All three companies are planning Pre-A or A funding rounds and/or Pharma/Biotech collaborations in 2021.
In the hot seat as Chair we have UK Biotech treasure, @Andy Richards CBE who has fathered the biotech industry over the last decade. He will be joined by: @Tim Sparey, CEO of @In4Derm a @University of Dundee spinout that develops novel therapeutics for serious inflammatory conditions such as eczema and non-melanoma skin cancers ; @Myriam Ouberai CEO of @Spirea an @Cambridge University Spinout developing the next generation of antibody drug conjugate (ADC) therapeutics to revolutionise cancer treatment; and @Vid Stojevic, CEO of @Kuano AI Providing Innovative Quantum and AI Solutions for Molecular Design.
Panel Chair:
Dr Andy Richards, CBE
Andy is an entrepreneur and investor and needs very little introduction in the UK Biotech community. He is and has been involved in many of the success stories that have come out of Cambridge, UK by either directly investing or supporting from the side lines and has spent a huge amount of his personal time supporting the sector over the last 25 years.
Panelists:
Dr. Tim Sparey, CEO @ In4derm
Tim is a highly motivated and driven individual with 25 years of experience of working in blue chip big pharma, specialty pharma and biotech. He has held CEO, business development and management positions, including at board level, in companies with interests in neuroscience, cancer, diabetes and ophthalmology.
Dr. Myriam Ouberai, CEO and Founder @ Spirea
Myriam has significant experience in drug delivery and biopharmaceuticals in both academia and industry. Prior to Spirea, Myriam was a Senior Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, Nanoscience Centre. In 2018, Myriam was selected as one of 50 Movers and Shakers in BioBusiness by UK biotech platform BioBeat. She holds a PhD in Chemistry.
Dr. Vid Stojevic CEO and Co-founder @ Kuano
Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from King’s College London. KUANO’s co-founder and an expert in quantum physics. Spent the past 10 years working on string theory and many body quantum physics simulations, the latter underlying the technology
spearheaded at KUANO. Held postdoc positions at UCL and the University of Vienna. 17 publications in numerous high impact journals.
#o2hchaitime #o2hventures # Britain #Innovation
Research in Rare Diseases – The Scientists, New Technology and The Patients
Research in Rare Diseases – The Scientists, New Technology and The Patients
20th October, 2020 |
15:00 BST
We had a very interesting #o2hChaiTime 2.8 chaired by Prashant Shah on "Fighting Rare Diseases - The Science, Economics and the Patients..." in which we explored the latest science, the economics, and the role of patients in the fight against rare disease.
Rare disease by definition implies the patient numbers are very small, and therefore the return on investment has historically been challenging. Whilst advocacy groups have always been active in drawing attention to the plight of rare disease patients, a number of scientific & technology advances are changing the economics of advances in rare disease research. In addition, commercial organisations now appear more driven to make social investments that offer even more hope for those suffering from rare disease.
Chair:
Prashant Shah, Executive Chairman @ o2h group
Panellists:
Tim Guilliams, CEO @ HealxTim - Guilliams is the CEO of Healx and is passionate about using big data & artificial intelligence to accelerate treatments for rare diseases. He obtained his PhD at the University of Cambridge in the field of Biophysics & Neuroscience.
Michael Binks, VP of Rare Disease research @ Pfizer - Michael Binks is a VP of Rare Disease research at Pfizer and is a scientifically focused drug discovery and early clinical development professional. He is a clinical rheumatologist with 20 years’ experience in immuno-inflammation & rare diseases involving small molecules, small protein, monoclonal antibody & AAV gene therapy modalities.
Nicola Miller, Editor in Chief @ Rare Revolution Magazine - Nicola Miller is the editor in Chief of Rare Revolution Magazine which is a voice and a platform for patients’ groups, industry, professionals, clinical & healthcare providers, and charities. She is also a trustee of the teddington trust which offers support & guidance to those affected by Xeroderma Pigmentosum.
#RareDiseases #DrugDiscovery #Research #Investing
AI and Drug Discovery
AI and Drug Discovery
11th September, 2020 |
15:00 BST
o2h ChaiTime Episode 2.5 was on the powerful role of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in transforming the speed and cost of innovative drug discovery.
This area where biotech meets deep tech is an area that has not only attracted the attention of traditional biotech funds but also hardened deep tech funds that historically were scared off by the word biotech let alone drug discovery!
We had invited UK Biotech treasure Dr. Jackie Hunter, CEO of BenevolentAI to Chair the panel (though Sunil Shah, jumped in to quiz Jackie on the next steps for BenevolentAI); Tina M. Larson, President and COO of digital biology company Recursion, who also has a long history in Genentech and Roche, provides us with on the ground insights from the USA; Dr. Jerome Wicker from Oxford Drug Design and Dr. Hannah Sore, from Cambridge University spinout PharmEnable who are leaders in the space and represent the next wave of emerging technologies.
With this amazing panel, we discussed the evolution of the business models, collaborating with pharma, creating a large data-set, the funding landscape, and more...
#o2hChaiTimeSeason2 #DrugDiscovery #Chemistry #AI #MachineLearning #Innovation
The Emerging World of Digital Therapeutics
The Emerging World of Digital Therapeutics
26th June, 2020 |
15:00 BST
In our exclusive tenth o2h ChaiTime webinar we discussed on ‘The Emerging World of Digital Therapeutics’.
In the new world where biotech and tech are merging together, we have seen the emergence of digital therapeutics that has not gone unnoticed by big pharma as well as the tech giants. Improving patient outcomes is the goal, whether we use traditional pharmacological or tech-focused modalities to achieve this.
o2h ChaiTime were privileged to host the CEO’s of four digital therapeutic companies who are aiming to improve the lives of patients using digital therapeutics.
Webinar Host:
Sunil Shah, CEO @ o2h group & o2h ventures (the human health EIS fund)
Panelists:
Nigel Pitchford, CEO @ Ieso Digital Health - Nigel is the former Chief Investment Officer of Touchstone Innovations prior to its acquisition by IP Group. He now spearheads Ieso Digital Health providing Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) directly to patients over the internet.
Guillem Singla Buxarrais, CEO and Co-Founder of Neurofenix - Providing the best tech-enabled home-based therapy experience for patients with neurological conditions.
Shamus Husheer, CEO and Co-Founder of Heartfelt Technologies Limited - Automatic, non-contact home heart failure monitoring for the casually compliant patient.
Patrick Beldon CEO and Co-Founder of Cortirio - Wearable brain imaging which can be used at the point of care to rapidly diagnose and monitor traumatic brain injuries.
#o2hChaiTimeWebinar #DigitalTherapeutics #DrugDiscovery
Faster Cancer Drugs to Patients
Faster Cancer Drugs to Patients
12th June, 2020 |
15:00 BST
In our exclusive Eighth o2h ChaiTime webinar we discussed, how we can speed up translating basic cancer research into new cancer therapeutics to get drugs to the front-line more quickly.
We are grateful to Professor Ashok Venkitaraman who has kindly agreed to Chair this o2h ChaiTime session. We have another amazing panel of experts and I can't imagine that this will be anything other than a fascinating debate.
Host: Sunil Shah, CEO of @o2h ventures, the o2h human health EIS Fund
Chair: Ashok Venkitaraman - The Ursula Zoellner Professor of Cancer Research, University of Cambridge & Emeritus Director, Medical Research Council Cancer Unit, Director-designate, Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, Director-designate, Cancer Programme, The National University of Singapore, Director-designate, Disease Intervention Technology Laboratory, A*STAR. Say no more…!
Panelists and Speakers:
Chris Torrance - Founder of Horizon Discovery (HZD:London) and presently CEO of fast growing PhoreMost, Cambridge UK, dedicated to first-in-class targets and focuses on drugging “Undruggable” targets.
Raj Chopra - Recently joined Apple Tree Partners ($2.5B under management) with an amazing career that spans positions spearheading cancer therapeutics, Celgene, AZ and the Institute of Cancer Research (San Diego, Boston, London).
Niall Martin - CEO of Artios ($84M Series B financing) to develop drugs for novel targets in the DNA Damage Repair pathway. Prior to Artios, Niall was co-founder of Mission Therapeutics.
Ruth Plummer - Ruth has a huge amount of experience at bringing oncology drugs through the clinic, she is the Director of the Sir Bobby Robson Cancer trials Research Centre with responsibility for early phase trials practice.
#oncology #drugdiscovery #biotech
One-on-One Interview with the Author of “Building an Unconventional Biotech”
One-on-One Interview with the Author of “Building an Unconventional Biotech”
5th June, 2020 |
15:00 BST
Our Seventh o2h ChaiTime webinar was an exclusive one-one interview with the author of ‘Building an Unconventional Biotech’ Blaise Lippa. Blaise is a friend of o2h and after reading his book I was thrilled that he agreed to be interviewed in this exclusive o2h ChaiTime event.
Morphic Therapeutic (MORF:NASDAQ) is a Waltham, MA based biotech which grew from a few employees in 2015 to a listed company with a peak valuation of around a billion in the space of four years.
We rarely get to see under the bonnet of these companies and the journey is often a closely guarded secret. However, Medicinal Chemist and friend of o2h Blaise Lippa who was employee No2, decided to write a book on this which he has just launched. It is a thrilling read and the dilemmas are personally written in a way that most of us will be able to relate to. I am sure this book will be a staple reading for any Biotech entrepreneur or investor in this industry and think you could learn more in this 45 min session with Blaise than a 5 year degree course on entrepreneurship.
#o2hventures #o2hChaiTimeWebinar #biotech
Antibiotic Resistance – The Fight for Humanity
Antibiotic Resistance – The Fight for Humanity
29th May, 2020 |
15:00 BST
Our exclusive sixth o2h ChaiTime webinar was on "Antibiotic Resistance - The Fight for Humanity". According to the WHO, Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today. Also, a growing number of infections – such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, gonorrhoea, and salmonellosis – are becoming harder to treat as the antibiotics used to treat them become less effective.
Let’s hope we can learn lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic - infectious organisms evolve constantly, so vigilance and pre-emptive action is required to maintain the tools we need to fight back.
We were honored to had Aleks Engel, Partner at Novo Holdings (Novo Seeds) chaired the sixth ChaiTime session.
Aleks quizzed some of the most innovative biotech companies in the space from both Cambridge and Oxford, in addition, we welcomed the Global Head, Infectious Diseases from global big pharma @Roche who are one of the pioneers/leaders in this battle.
Webinar Host:
Sunil Shah, CEO, o2h ventures, The Human Health EIS Fund
Webinar Chair:
Aleks Engel, Partner at Novo Holdings (Novo Seeds)
Panelists and Speakers:
Ken Bradley, Global Head, Infectious Disease Discovery at Roche Pharmaceutical Research and Early Development (pRED)
Ankit Mahadevia, CEO of NASDAQ listed, Spero Therapeutics
Paul Finn, CEO of Oxford University Spinout, Oxford Drug Design
Ajay Mistry, CEO of AI and antibiotics discovery start-up, Oppilotech
#o2hChaiTimeWebinar #antibioticresistance #drugdiscovery
Small Biotech and Big Pharma
Small Biotech and Big Pharma
22nd May, 2020 |
15:00 BST
Our fifth executive o2h ChaiTime webinar was on ‘Small Biotech and Big Pharma’.
We live in an era where large pharma are hungry for breakthrough innovations and seek to collaborate with small biotech, and small biotech requires additional sources of capital and expertise. Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc, one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson signed a collaboration in December 2019 with Nottingham University Spinout Exonate Ltd, headquartered in Cambridge.
o2h ChaiTime privileged to host the world's first fireside chat with CEO of Exonate, Catherine Beech and Pete Adamson, Vice President, DAS Head, Ophthalmology, Johnson & Johnson Medical Limited.
Webinar Host:
Sunil Shah, CEO @ o2h Group & o2h ventures
Panelists and Speakers:
Catherine Beech OBE, CEO of Exonate: Catherine trained as a Medical Doctor before embarking on a career in a big pharma. She then became a venture capital investor, followed by spearheading a string of new ventures. A real wonder woman!
Pete Adamson is the Vice President, DAS Head, Ophthalmology, Johnson & Johnson Medical Limited. Prior positions include President and Head of Discovery Ophthalmology at GlaxoSmithKline. He is one of the world's authorities on Ophthalmology Pharmaceutical Development.
#o2hventures #ChaiTimeWebinar #biotech
Britain’s Most Exciting Human Health Companies
Britain’s Most Exciting Human Health Companies
15th May, 2020 |
15:00 BST
Our fourth o2h ChaiTime webinar was on Britain's most exciting human health companies and our special guest for this webinar was Andy Richards to chair a Q&A discussion with four o2h-backed exciting human health companies all of which are considering a Seed Plus or Series A funding round in the near future.
The panel featured an AI driven drug discovery company, a stem cell liver on-a-chip platform, a biotech focused on known recreational drugs for treatment of depression, and a company developing faster acting Insulin.
Webinar Chair:
Andy Richards, is an entrepreneur and investor and needs very little introduction in the UK Biotech community. He is and has been involved in many of the success stories that have come out of Cambridge, UK by either directly investing or supporting from the side lines and has spent a huge amount of his personal time supporting the sector over the last 25 years.
Panellists:
Ruchi Sharma, CEO and Founder of Stemnovate (www.stemnovate.co.uk)
Ruchi is 2020’s ‘one to watch’ top 21 entrepreneur and founded Stemnovate on the back of a $1m award from Innovate UK Innovate.
Peter Rands, CEO and Co-Founder of Small Pharma (www.smallpharma.co.uk)
Peter is both a passionate chemist and a trained patent attorney. They have a stealth programme that is progressing toward the clinic which uses a known active recreational drug to treat mental health conditions.
Sarah Howell, CEO of Arecor (www.arecor.com)
Sarah has made significant strides in building Arecor into a global leader focused on advancing today’s therapies to enable healthier lives. Arecor is a clinical-stage company, building a proprietary pipeline of next-generation therapeutic products and collaborating with many of the world’s largest pharma.
Szabolcs Nagy, CEO and Co-Founder of Turbine (www.turbine.ai)
Szabi has placed Turbine firmly on the map as one of the global leaders in the intersection of AI and pharmaceutical new drug discovery.
#o2hventures #ChaiTimeWebinar #DrugDiscovery