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Transforming the treatment of cancer with oncolytic viruses
Guest: Stephen J. Russell, CEO, Vyriad
In this episode of Conversations in Healthcare, Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership at DRG, speaks with Stephen Russell, CEO of Vyriad. Dr. Russell reveals invaluable insights for those looking for or currently putting together partnership deals. Stephen shares his journey from academia at the Mayo Clinic to founding Vyriad, and eventually partnering with Regeneron for the development of new oncolytic virus treatments for cancer. Learn how Vyriad pivoted their technology to develop antibody tests for COVID-19 during the crisis. Watch the full interview here.
About our Guest
Stephen J. Russell, CEO, Vyriad
Dr. Russell is the CEO of Vyriad. He is also the Richard O Jacobson Professor of Molecular Medicine at Mayo Clinic and President of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy. He obtained his MD from the University of Edinburgh in 1982 and since that time has relentlessly pursued the goal of effective oncolytic virotherapy. He specialized clinically in hematology, then undertook his PhD training at the Royal Marsden hospital where he was the first to engineer both retroviral and parvoviral vectors to deliver interleukin genes for cancer immunotherapy. He then moved to Cambridge, England where he led a research team in the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Biology, developed a novel method for antibody affinity maturation using phage display libraries, pioneered the display antibody domains on retroviral vector particles and on recombinant measles viruses, and founded Cambridge Genetics, a biotechnology/drug discovery company.
In 1998 he moved to Mayo Clinic where he founded the Department of Molecular Medicine, built a comprehensive oncolytic virotherapy program, developed innovative engineering approaches for targeting, arming and noninvasively monitoring OV infections, and orchestrated the GMP manufacture, preclinical pharmacological/ toxicological testing, IND filing and clinical translation of a number of oncolytic Measles and Vesicular stomatitis viruses for several different cancer indications. He co-founded two oncolytic virotherapy companies which merged in 2015, thereby establishing Vyriad as the first multi-platform OV company.
About our Host
Mike Ward, Head of Thought Leadership, DRG
Mike Ward serves as Global Head of Thought Leadership at Decision Resources Group (DRG), part of Clarivate. As both a journalist and analyst, Mike has been writing, analyzing and commenting on the life sciences industry for more than 35 years. He has held editorial and content leadership roles at various publications and organizations across the industry.
