Andy Holt is the Chief Commercial Officer at Viralgen Vector Core, a company specializing in the contract manufacturing of AAV gene therapies. A self-described “really bad molecular biologist” who moved to the commercial side, Andy has spent 18 years in cell and gene therapy, including a stint as VP at AskBio before its acquisition by Bayer. His quote on the wall at Viralgen’s facility in Spain: “Science is magic that works.”
Phil Vanek is the Chief Commercialization Officer at ISCT (International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy). Another former bench scientist who decided to “head into the business world,” Phil has built his career in product development, innovation leadership, and investing on behalf of private equity. He’s on a mission to bring clinicians, researchers, investors, and regulators together around a common language.
In Today's Episode We Discuss:
- Cell & Gene Therapy: Promise vs. Reality of Clinical Adoption
- Why Manufacturing Cost Is No Longer the Biggest Barrier
- CAR-T Commercialized in India for Under $50,000 — Same Tools, Different System
- The Education Problem: Clinicians and Patients Learning at the Same Time
- We're Making the Most Complex Medicines the World Has Ever Seen
- Why Payers Think Like Investors — And What That Means for Adoption
- The $4 Million Problem: Employment-Linked Healthcare Creates Reverse Incentives
- If the Patient Changes Jobs, the Insurer Loses the Long-Term Value
- The Bar Keeps Rising: From Tox Studies to Phase 1 Data to Proof of Concept
- First-in-Human in Under a Year for Under $20 Million — It's Possible
- Family Foundations Running Drug Development (And Why That's Not Ideal)
- NIH Funding Uncertainty: Spend Every Dollar Like It's Your Last
- AI as the "Shiny Object" Siphoning Capital from Advanced Therapies
- Uncertainty Creates Opportunity — But Higher Risk Opportunity
- Advice for Startups: Hunt for Boring — Keep Your Therapy as the Only Variable
- Advice for Investors: Don't Drink the Kool-Aid — Pivot If the Cards Show You Won't Get There
- "Science Is Magic That Works"
- We Live in a Science Fictional World — And We're Shepherding It
