ESMO26: Lowering toxicity, extending lives, with Syncromune

Artificial intelligence is now embedded in every stage of drug development, but the patients whose lives depend on those decisions are almost entirely absent from the design, governance, and oversight of these systems. In a new pharmaphorum podcast, Nicole Raleigh speaks with Donna Cryer, founding partner and Chief Patient Officer of CryerHealth, LLC, as well as patient advocate, FDA Patient Representative, and founder of the Global Liver Institute and member of the Board of Advisors at PathAI. Cryer discusses why patient inclusion is not the same as patient leadership, and why that distinction matters for drug development and AI governance. You can listen to episode 285 of the pharmaphorum podcast in the player below, download the episode to your computer, or find it – and subscribe to the rest of the series – on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Podbean, and pretty much wherever else you download your other podcasts from.

In a new episode of the pharmaphorum podcast, Nicole Raleigh invites Mati Gill, CEO of AION Labs, back as guest. AION Labs is a venture studio built by a coalition of pharma heavyweights, tech giants, and leading investors to develop and integrate AI technologies to redefine drug discovery and development through the creation of new start-ups. Gill discusses some great start-ups coming out of the AION Labs co-development model, what investors now expect of AI biotech companies, and the potential of AI in drug discovery and development for the good of human health. You can listen to episode 284 of the pharmaphorum podcast in the player below, download the episode to your computer, or find it – and subscribe to the rest of the series – on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Podbean, and pretty much wherever else you download your other podcasts from.

At ESMO 2026, Taiho Oncology presented data from Cohort C of the Phase 2 REZILIENT2 trial evaluating zipalertinib monotherapy in patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (or NSCLC) harbouring epidermal growth factor receptor (or EGFR) exon 20 insertion mutations or other uncommon EGFR mutations and active central nervous system (or CNS) metastases. During the Congress, pharmaphorum’s Nicole Raleigh invited Dr Harold Keer, chief medical officer at Taiho Oncology, as a guest on the podcast while he was on the ground in Madrid, Spain. Dr Keer discusses the non-small cell lung cancer patient and treatment setting, as well as  improving the lives of patients with cancer, their families, and their caregivers. He also goes into detail on Taiho’s orally administered anti-cancer agents for various tumour types and an expanding pipeline of antibody-drug conjugate (or ADC) therapies. Listen to the conversation and explore our updates from ESMO 2026 here.

As the European Society for Medical Oncology 2026 Congress commences in Madrid, pharmaphorum invited Syncromune Executive Chairman Dr Chuck Link onto the podcast for a conversation on the updated long-term overall survival data from its Phase 1 trial of SYNC-T Therapy SV-102 in patients with metastatic prostate cancer. Dr Link discusses SYNC-T, their investigational in situ personalised immunotherapy, as well as metastatic castration-resistant (or mCRPC) and metastatic hormone-sensitive (or mHSPC) disease, and the possible outcomes for patients going forward. Listen to the conversation and keep up on ESMO26 updates here.

*This episode of the pharmaphorum podcast is brought to you in association with Klick Health* By 2030, 1.2 billion women worldwide will be menopausal or post-menopausal - many at the peak of their working lives. Yet, menopause remains largely absent from health system planning, despite growing evidence linking unmanaged symptoms to reduced productivity, absenteeism, and women leaving the workforce altogether. In a new pharmaphorum podcast, web editor Nicole Raleigh speaks with Dr Cecilia Caetano, vice president, global medical affairs and evidence generation lead in women’s health at Bayer, for a conversation on this overlooked, but increasingly urgent global health issue. Caetano discusses the lack of innovation in women’s health and, critically, the lack of understanding of menopausal needs. She also explores the European landscape for menopause in comparison to the UK, as well as describing what ‘health system readiness’ looks like. You can listen to episode 281 of the pharmaphorum podcast in the player below, download the episode to your computer, or find it – and subscribe to the rest of the series – on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Podbean, and pretty much wherever else you download your other podcasts from. *This episode of the pharmaphorum podcast is brought to you in association with Klick Health*

Even the most promising innovation still depends on strong governance, resilient operations, and confidence in sensitive data. In a new pharmaphorum podcast, web editor Nicole Raleigh speaks with Robbie Tyrie, founder and managing director of Torridon Cyber, for a conversation on cybersecurity when it comes to pharma companies and health systems more widely. Tyrie shares his insights and explains how to ensure cybersecurity acts as a business enabler, as opposed to a barrier to growth. You can listen to episode 280 of the pharmaphorum podcast in the player below, download the episode to your computer, or find it – and subscribe to the rest of the series – on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Podbean, and pretty much wherever else you download your other podcasts from.

Industry is using AI to surface hidden patterns and accelerate decision-making in high-pressure launch environments. In a new pharmaphorum podcast, host Nicole Raleigh speaks with Jason Smith, CTO of AI and analytics at Within3, for a conversation on data-fuelled agile launches and smarter decision-making. Smith discusses alignment of cross-functional teams and fostering real collaboration and efficiency, how pharma teams can use real-time data to shape more precise and effective launch strategies, and the importance in all this of maintaining a deep focus on patient needs and healthcare provider challenges. You can listen to episode 279 of the pharmaphorum podcast in the player below, download the episode to your computer, or find it – and subscribe to the rest of the series – on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Podbean, and pretty much wherever else you download your other podcasts from.

Bioconvergence is a multidisciplinary research and development approach that merges technologies from biology, engineering, and computation, providing solutions in medicine, food, agriculture, manufacturing, climate, and more. In a new pharmaphorum podcast, web editor Nicole Raleigh speaks with Shai Melcer, head of the national bioconvergence programme at Israel Innovation Authority, for a conversation exploring bioconvergence broadly. Melcer discusses the foundations, goes into detail about companies currently working in the bioconvergence space, and what it could – all together – mean for the future of human health. You can listen to episode 278 of the pharmaphorum podcast in the player below, download the episode to your computer, or find it – and subscribe to the rest of the series – on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Podbean, and pretty much wherever else you download your other podcasts from.

Artificial intelligence is dramatically transforming the landscape for every part of pharma. One area where AI is both essential to implement and important to get right is pharmacovigilance, the group concerned with monitoring and maintaining patient safety.   In today's pharmaphorum podcast, sponsored by IQVIA Safety Solutions, host Jonah Comstock speaks with Updesh Dosanjh, IQVIA commercialisation lead for safety technology, about how and why the role of AI in pharmacovigilance is changing, as well as tips for implementing these new tools safely and reliably.   Dosanjh discusses why AI in pharmacovigilance is moving beyond document extraction and case processing, how regulatory expectations are shifting from basic compliance to meaningful patient outcomes, and why governance and monitoring matter more than technology alone.   Then, in the second half of the conversation, he covers how organisations can build trust and adoption across their teams, what patient-level safety monitoring could look like in the era of personalised medicine, and, finally, why starting with a meaningful, high-value use case is critical to AI success.   Check out the full podcast below, and then download the White Paper to learn even more.

Earlier this year, the FDA released draft guidance endorsing Bayesian methods and simulation-based evidence in clinical trials in a significant shift in how regulators think about predictive medicine.  In a new pharmaphorum podcast, Dr Irina Babina, CEO of oncology R&D platform Concr, discusses how current regulatory frameworks were built for static, one-test-one-answer diagnostics, as well as the potential of digital twins, and how, if regulators keep approving AI medical tools the way they approve blood tests, the most promising predictive technologies will never reach patients. You can listen to episode 276 of the pharmaphorum podcast in the player below, download the episode to your computer, or find it – and subscribe to the rest of the series – on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Podbean, and pretty much wherever else you download your other podcasts from.