Building a New Class of Medicine in Biotech

What if there were a way to genetically engineer fungi species and transform them into human therapeutics to help with neurological disorders? <br>Today’s guest, Dr. Usman (Oz) Azam, just launched a biotech, Empyrean Neurosciences, that is genetically modifying fungi to create therapeutics.<br>Biotech is hard enough as it is, but what does it take to pioneer an entirely new class of medicine as a biotech startup? Oz shares his experience and his strategies at Empyrean to navigate the intersection of neurological disease and mental health.<br>Here are a few of the highlights from this episode:<br>Innovation in biotechOz’s diverse background lent to his current success. He started out in big pharma companies like Pfizer and J&J, followed by a stint running his own company and back to big pharma at Novartis. After his time at Novartis, Oz jumped back into the entrepreneurial biotech space again, building Tmunity from scratch.<br>Curiosity is vital to success in early-stage biotechs. It’s also important to evaluate your personal risk/benefit meter if you want to bring new innovations to the market. The career path you take will impact your potential to succeed.It’s beneficial to pursue roles at companies that drive innovation forward, even within Big Pharma.<br>Empyrean: a new class of medicine<br>Oz’s new company, Empyrean, is building an entirely new class of medicine in neuroscience. Their focus is on genetically engineering small molecules from different species of fungi in plants to create human therapeutics, which nobody has done before.<br>Empyrean is poised to bring a much-needed revolution in neuroscience, specifically for neuropsychiatry and neurology and potentially other therapeutic disease areas as well.<br>Now a preclinical company, Oz has a vision to introduce the world’s first botanical, that is a genetically engineered mushroom containing psilocybin to treat patients suffering from disorders like major depressive disorder.<br>Bringing a novel drug to the market, especially with current macro-economic headwinds, takes a high level of nimbleness and agility as a company. That’s why Empyrean is using an agile model to scale in a greenfield therapeutic space.<br>Agile organizational development<br>Choosing where to focus is important for any biotech. Is it a platform focus or a therapeutic focus? According to Oz, it’s key to balance both simultaneously. He feels that after developing the platform, it’s important to double down on the therapeutic early on. Once you establish a leading candidate and prove it out, you can begin to think about future therapeutic possibilities.<br>When your team is small, the leader must have a keen understanding of where to focus resources. Endless paths exist. It’s essential to find that one thread that will tell a compelling story. Nail that story, and you can get funding to explore other pathways.<br>Sequencing ResourcesIn large organizations, the growth algorithms are relatively fixed. You get X number of people in each department as you reach new phases of development. If you are in an intrapreneurial role within Big Pharma, you may have a bit more leeway, but you still work within the organization's firewall.<br>A startup is a different animal altogether. The leaders do a little bit of everything in the early stages. As funds come in, resource allocation is key.<br>Just as there are leaders for seasons, there are company models for seasons. Empyrean is a nine-person company. They have to maximize their resources at this critical stage. That’s why they engage strategic partners like SSI Strategy.<br>Hybrid Team<br>Oz has taken a hybrid team approach. One of the big mistakes you see in early-stage biotechs is overbuilding the team. If anything goes