Kojin Therapeutics Chairman & CEO Harvey Berger shares an update on the company's progress and talks about the funding environment for earlier stage companies in biotech

Biotech industry veteran Harvery Berger talks about his company's job at hand to translate the science of ferroptosis into therapies. Plus, a warning about the currently very difficult funding environment for preclinical and other early stage companies in the sector.

The Expert

A biotech-industry veteran, Dr. Berger is an experienced physician-scientist and entrepreneur, who brings over 35 years of global research and development (R&D), corporate, and commercial leadership experience to Kojin. He founded ARIAD Pharmaceuticals and led the company as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from a start-up to a fully integrated global-oncology company. In this and other leadership roles, Dr. Berger spearheaded the development and approval of six innovative, breakthrough medicines for patients with cancer (Iclusig®, Alunbrig®, and Exkivity®), cardiovascular disease (ReoPro®, EluNir® Ridaforolimus Drug Eluting Stent), and autoimmune disease (Remicade®), as well as a cancer-diagnostic blood test (CA-125). Dr. Berger started in the biopharmaceutical industry in 1986 at Centocor – one of the first-generation biotech companies dedicated to pursuing the therapeutic and diagnostic applications of monoclonal antibodies – where he oversaw the company’s R&D programs as executive vice president and president of research and development. Subsequent to his lengthy stint at ARIAD, he became Executive Chairman of Medinol, a leading world-wide medical-device company dedicated to the science of cardiovascular intervention.

Dr. Berger began his career in academic medicine at Yale School of Medicine and Emory School of Medicine, rising to professor with tenure. He received his M.D. from Yale School of Medicine and his B.S. from Colgate University and completed post-graduate training at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Dr. Berger has published over 150 original scientific articles and reviews.

In the past several years, Dr. Berger has devoted his efforts to supporting several not-for-profit organizations, including the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, whose mission is to defy cancer, as a governing trustee, chair of the trustee science committee, and a member of the executive committee, and The Cameron Boyce Foundation in Los Angeles, whose mission is to cure epilepsy, as a member of the board of directors.