The BioHub - by Avetix

We were delighted to welcome Ken Macnamara, an accomplished biotech executive with deep experience spanning product development, advanced therapeutics, and company leadership, onto The BioHub!
Over the course of his career, Ken has held senior roles across innovative life sciences businesses, helping translate cutting-edge science into real-world therapies and scalable commercial platforms. He currently serves as CEO of Trogenix, where he is focused on advancing next-generation precision genetic medicines. With a background that bridges science, operations, and strategy, Ken brings a rare perspective on what it takes to build successful biotech companies in an increasingly complex healthcare landscape

In this episode of The BioHub Podcast by Avetix, Ben sits down with Dr. Arun Swaminathan, CEO of Coya Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapies designed to enhance regulatory T cell function and target systemic inflammation and neuroinflammation.
Arun brings more than 20 years of healthcare leadership experience across corporate strategy, business development, operations, and deal-making. At Coya, he is helping lead the company’s work in severe neurodegenerative diseases, including ALS, Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, and Parkinson’s disease, with a focus on immunomodulatory and Treg-based therapeutic approaches.
In this conversation, we discuss the evolving treatment landscape in neurodegeneration, the role of neuroinflammation in CNS drug development, what it takes to build and finance a clinical-stage biotech, and how combination therapeutic strategies could shape the next generation of disease-modifying treatments.

In this episode of The BioHub Podcast, Max sits down with Haseeb Ahmad, CEO of Purespring Therapeutics.

Haseeb brings over 25 years of experience in the life sciences industry, including leadership roles at Novartis where he oversaw a $15B business across Europe and led their gene therapies division.

But this conversation goes beyond titles.

Haseeb shares how his upbringing in Liverpool and the influence of his parents shaped his mindset, leadership style, and approach to building companies.

We also discuss his transition from big pharma to biotech, what makes Purespring so exciting, and why targeting kidney disease through gene therapy could be transformative for patients.

Today, we’re joined by a leader working at the cutting edgeof immunology and eye disease. Elizabeth Jeffords is the CEO of Iolyx Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech company focused on transforming how we treat inflammatory and autoimmune diseases of the eye.
Iolyx sits at the emerging intersection of immunology andophthalmology—what’s often called immuno-ophthalmology. The company is developing targeted therapies designed to treat ocular inflammation right at its source, with the goal of replacing older treatments like steroids and broadimmunosuppressants with more precise, better-tolerated options.
Their lead program is a topical immunomodulatory therapy forautoimmune dry eye disease, which has already shown promising results in Phase 2 clinical trials—demonstrating meaningful improvements in ocular surface health for patients with underlying inflammatory conditions.
In today’s conversation, we’ll explore how her career led her into biotech leadership, why the eye is such a unique and challenging organ for drug development, the Biotech CEO sisterhood and how immunology could reshape the future of treating chronic eye disease.

Welcome to today’s episode, where we sit down with Derek Adams, CEO of Stellular Bio. Derek has been helping steer Stellular Bio at the intersection of advanced biomanufacturing and next-generation therapeutic development—turning complex scientific challenges into real-world medical possibilities.Prior to Stellular, Derek was Chief Manufacturing and Technology Officer at bluebird bio, one of the most well-known pioneers in gene therapy and advanced biologics, and had prior roles at Evelo Biosciences, Epiva Biosciences, Alexion Pharmaceuticals.