Outcomes Rocket Podcast_Lana Volokh & Alex Tendler: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Saul Marquez:
Hey everybody! Saul Marquez with the Outcomes Rocket. I want to welcome you back to our podcast and I want to thank you for tuning in once again because today I have a really awesome treat for you. I’ve got two amazing guests calling in from the amazing Israel, and they’re going to be talking to us about some game-changing technology that they’re up to for oncology. Now, I want to introduce them, it’s doctors Alex Tendler and Lana Volokh. They’re founders, co-founders of ExProTher Medical, an Israeli company developing a first-in-class oncology therapeutic. Their breakthrough Biotherapy is targeting p53, which is the most commonly mutated gene in human cancer. Dr. Lana is the CEO, she has extensive management in experience in R&D, system engineering, advanced technologies, clinical research product, clinical and regulatory strategy development. Both of them are co-inventors of multiple patents, experienced executives, and have been key contributors to the development of a number of projects combining high technology and clinical components. Dr. Alex Tendler is the Chief Technology Officer, he’s a scientist and researcher with extensive experience in multinational R&D projects and project management in a variety of scientific areas, among them electronics, neuroscience, medical device development, drug development, and delivery. So with that introduction, really want to give a warm welcome to Alex and Lana, the podcast. Welcome, guys.
Lana Volokh:
Thank you for having us.
Alex Tendler:
Hi.
Saul Marquez:
It’s a pleasure to have you both here at this time, just kind of shows your commitment to the work that you’re doing. And so, you know, let’s kick things off by getting to know you a little bit better. What is it that inspires your work in healthcare?
Lana Volokh:
Well, I will start. I was the one to seal my pals’ open knees with a Band-Aid, or just with the leaf since, like, forever. I decided to be a doctor, when in high school, I worked in a hospital in operating rooms, and then it so happened that I went to study economics and computers and became an engineer. But actually, ever since completing my PhD, I have worked in healthcare industry. So to me, the opportunity to apply my skill set in this direction was both a perfect closure and also an amazing beginning.
Saul Marquez:
That’s great, Lana, thanks. Thanks for sharing that. You know, even though you didn’t become a physician, you’re very engaged in healthcare. You haven’t strayed far from your North Star. Alex, how about you?
Alex Tendler:
Yeah, well, I think I was born as a biologist. I was, well, always fascinated by it. And somehow when I was young, I went to study electrical engineering, and after six years in Intel, I felt bored. I left, I did master’s degree in biomedical engineering and PhD in neuroscience. So for me, healthcare and biology, it’s kind of internal voice, it’s a calling.
Saul Marquez:
I love that, that calling is strong, and I’m glad you guys joined forces because you’re creating some pretty, pretty amazing work. Talk to me a little bit about how this journey began. Lana, maybe you could shed some light on that.
Lana Volokh:
Actually, it is kind of a very short story. Alex and I worked together in another company for a number of years, so we knew each other way in advance, way before this story started. And then when Alex came up with this crazy idea, he basically came up to me and said, this is what I’ve been thinking about lately, and you’ve got to do this with me. And I did not need a lot of convincing, I was on board very fast, and we’ve been running on that ever since.
Saul Marquez:
I love it, I love it. Love the confidence. So what is it all about? Alex, talk to us about it. You’re the mad scientist with the ideas here, talk to us about the idea.
Alex Tendler:
Well, it’s all about the, one of the major killers in developed countries today, cancer. Our body is armed with four different levels of inborn antitumor defense, cellular level, tissue level, innate immunity, and adaptive immunity. Three of them gave rise to various anti-cancer treatments, like the old and familiar radiation and chemotherapies that unfortunately have only partial success and horrible side effects, or different types of immunotherapies which are very successful but only in limited cases. Our treatment takes advantage of the tissue level of inborn antitumor defense, the one that, originating from neighboring cells. This mechanism prevents cancer in cornea in the eyes of each and every vertebrate for millions of years, we are tapping into the therapeutic muscle that has never been used before. We all can easily imagine that cornea exposed to damaging UV radiation more than any other part of our body, and still corneal cancer is very rare. So we are translating this ancient local mechanism of anticancer defense into modern systemic therapy. We deliver p53 protein, also called the guardian of the genome, to tumor using native nanoparticles of extracellular vesicles. p53 is considered as a holy grail of therapeutic targets in oncology, while usage of extracellular vesicles as delivery vehicle considered as the next-generation drug delivery platform. So based on the results of treatment, it’s expected to have very wide breadth of applications and minimal side effects.
Saul Marquez:
That’s very interesting, Alex, thank you. And the concept of the cornea and its ability to fight cancer and prevent cancer, the thought of applying that to other areas of the body is certainly a novel approach and very intriguing. Can you talk to us, Lana, about how the work that you guys do is going to help improve outcomes?
Lana Volokh:
Right, with pleasure. So our work is all about improving patient outcomes. This is what matters in the end of the day. p53 mutant cancers are known to be associated with poor clinical prognosis, so we’re here to improve outcomes for massive 60% of cancer patients. As Alex just said, p53 is considered to be a holy grail of therapeutic targets in oncology. And we believe that our breakthrough approach successfully addresses the pitfall of previous attempts to target p53 with this systemic approach through using novel source material and the delivery system based on native nanoparticles, and frankly, the timing for this has never been better. While we are one of the early companies pursuing extracellular vesicle-based oncology therapeutics, regulatory acceptance for such types of products has developed drastically in the past few years. The tremendous therapeutic potential of extracellular vesicles is now widely recognized, and actually, we have heard our therapeutic approach to be compared with the development of insulin more than once.
Saul Marquez:
That’s fascinating. What’s the comparison? I’m just curious.
Lana Volokh:
Well, insulin was originally kind of harvested from animal tissues and it took bounds of animal pancreas to extract milligrams of insulin, and then eventually it became synthesized and became this widely available therapy. So we’re talking about very local mechanism of anti-cancer defense originating in the cornea, and we aim to become, for this to become available to masses of patients.
Saul Marquez:
Thank you for that example, Lana. That really helps understand the mechanism as well as the delivery and the retrieval of the p, was it, it was p53 elements of the cornea. Now, what makes it work?
Lana Volokh:
We think that what makes it work is that Alex and I work in tandem from the very beginning, and each of us brings to the table very different aspects of our personality and also our specialty. And what happens is that we are two radically different people who happen to share and have identical core values and things that drive us in life, and so throughout these past five years, we have constantly challenged and also supported each other, and that’s very important when you are two founders. You see, we started the company from scratch, like literally from the corner of a neighbor’s kitchen. It’s very kind of hardcore startup situation, which you do not see in biotech very often. In these circumstances, they develop agility and mindfulness to every resource and also focus on what is really important. So today we have been funded already, we have grown a team of scientists around us, but the company spirit stays the same and we love it. And another very positive aspect is that we’re both engineers, so we share that kind of mental muscle that we find very beneficial at every step of the way.
Saul Marquez:
Thank you, Lana, that’s fantastic. It sounds like the culture is strong and you know, the team you guys on the leadership team, really complement each other well, which is huge and a critical part of any company hitting their goals. What would you define as one of the biggest setbacks you’ve experienced and a key learning that’s come out of that?
Alex Tendler:
Well, as Lana just said, we started our journey solely based on an idea. I remember one of our first meeting with investors, they came backed by advisors from biology and oncology fields. Imagine yourself, two engineers, presenting completely novel anti-cancer treatment concept to biologists. They simply dismissed our idea and us as a company. It requires substantial resilience not to give up. Today we are not alone, we have on board one of the leading Israeli VCs specializing in biotechnology. So what is my key learning? I, actually have to dream big and treat it as a plan, no matter what they say. And I understood that funding, it’s like dating, not everybody likes you, so you just need to find the right person that will share your vision.
Saul Marquez:
I love that. Some great learnings, and you know as, folks you’re listening to this interview, think about what you’re up to, right? Dream big, nobody’s inspired by small thinking. So take a note out of Alex and Lana’s book here, dream big, treat it as a plan. And don’t worry, not everybody’s going to like you, find the right person that likes you, and that’s all you need to make an ideal work. Lana, were you going to add to that? I think, maybe I.
Lana Volokh:
Probably, I will, yes, thank you. So we’re definitely learning, and for me, the biggest learning and still ongoing learning is to find the fine balance between listening to as many people as possible, both believers and also critics, but also trusting your assessment and also your gut. And you have to trust in yourself more when you’re doing something that nobody else has done before, but at the end of the day, learn from everybody to do it better.
Saul Marquez:
That’s fantastic. Some great guiding principles there. Lana, I appreciate you sharing that. So as you both embark on what’s next with the company, you know, you guys are creating some waves with ExProTher Medical. What would you say you’re most excited about?
Alex Tendler:
There are actually a lot of things that I’m excited about those days, I will mention only some of them. So we lately moved from the idea to reality, actually. It is a big deal. During the last few months we proved our hypothesis of mechanism of action and showed that our treatment works in a wide range of cancers. Achieving those very important R&D milestones advances us from proof of concept to product development stage. In addition, we just recently won a Frontiers of Science grant from the Israeli Ministry of Innovation and Science. It is about combination therapy of pancreatic cancer. This is another important validation for us.
Lana Volokh:
And to me, the most exciting thing is that we’re really seeing the milestone of treating patients in front of us, and this is what it is all about. So we’re currently pursuing Series A funding round to bring us to clinic within two years.
Saul Marquez:
Well, that’s super exciting, that is very exciting. Lana, go ahead, you were going to say something else.
Lana Volokh:
I was going to just say that we’re extremely excited about that. We see the progress, we see the goal on the horizon, and we’re paddling further.
Saul Marquez:
I love it, I love it. In tandem, at the same time making the moves, and congratulations on the grant, congratulations on these validations, and on what’s next. Folks, if you’re listening to this and you’re thinking through your investment strategy, if you’re a VC looking for intriguing opportunities in this space, certainly check the show notes of our podcast today, you’ll see links on how to get ahold of Lana and how to get ahold of Alex, so make sure you take a look at those, great opportunity here. This has been super interesting, and I want to thank both of you, Alex and Lana, for your time today. Before we conclude, I’d love to just give you an opportunity to share a closing thought with the listeners and the best place that they could get in touch with you.
Lana Volokh:
Thank you. So what we would love to mention, and I’m speaking for the both of you, is how much we appreciate the support and trust of our early investors who were inspired by just the idea and shared our vision, and our progress could not have been achieved with them. Some of them are our close friends, some of them are our family, it is important for us to keep them informed of our achievements. We try to do that all the time through our website and LinkedIn pages, and these are the easy ways also for listeners to connect with us as well. We also have a dedicated, targeted newsletter which we share with our investors. And today we encourage new investors, new partners who are interested in our story and our approach to reach out and come on board to bring to patients this exciting and breakthrough solution. Saul, it was a pleasure chatting with you. Some very important questions that you asked and we tried to frankly answer.
Saul Marquez:
Well, Lana, thank you, you know, a true pleasure to speak with you and Alex, and thanks for the opportunity that you’ve offered our listener base to explore the solutions that you and the team at ExProTher Medical are up to. Certainly sounds like they’re game-changing and we’ll leave links to everybody tuning in to check you guys out. Any closing thoughts from you, Alex?
Alex Tendler:
I would like to thank our investors also. It’s very important for us. A lot of my friends invested in the company in the beginning, so I have to make it happen, otherwise, I will stay alone.
Saul Marquez:
The stakes are high, my friend, the stakes are high. And you guys are doing incredible work, so I want to encourage you guys to keep up the fight. And certainly, listeners, check out the amazing work that ExProTher Medical is up to. Certainly, one that you’re not going to want to fall asleep at the wheel on. Really appreciate you both and look forward to staying in touch.
Lana Volokh:
Thank you.
Alex Tendler:
Thank you very much.
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