Power to the Patients

Neuroscience trials often enroll hundreds of patients, run for years, and still end without a clear answer. Some researchers now think a small study with the right measures can tell you more than a large one. In this episode of Power to the Patients, Brandon Li brings together Craig Erickson, Chief Medical Advisor at Spinogenix, and Gabriel Vargas, Chief Medical Officer at CuraSen Therapeutics, to look at why these drugs are so hard to develop and what could work better. They cover what anti-amyloid antibodies do and do not deliver in Alzheimer’s, why synapses sit at the center of so many brain disorders, and what patients and investors should watch next.

Isn’t it crazy to think that half of FDA-approved small molecule drugs have roots in nature? But José Trevejo, Chief Medical Officer at Enveda, says the opportunity now is not to romanticize that history, but to make it usable at modern speed. In this episode of Power to the Patients, Brandon Li speaks with José about AI-assisted drug discovery, mass spectrometry, ENV-294 and why the real bottleneck in biotech may no longer be finding molecules. It may be scaling the trials to test them. By combining ancient healing stories with high-throughput technology, researchers now identify these candidates in hours rather than years. This clinical acceleration is rewriting the early-stage discovery playbook.

Platinum chemotherapy is the backbone of ovarian cancer treatment. But for far too many patients, it eventually stops working. In this episode of Power to the Patients, Brandon Li sits down with Thomas Zindrick, CEO and President of Genelux Corporation, to discuss Olvi-Vec, platinum resensitization, and why oncolytic virus therapy could give clinicians a new way to work with existing cancer treatments. Platinum resistance is one of the hardest questions to solve in clinical oncology, but some answers are beginning to emerge.

Most people still think gout is a lifestyle condition caused primarily by diet. But this belief is a big reason patients have been underserved for decades. In this episode of Power to the Patients, Brandon Li sits down with James Mackay, CEO and co-founder of Crystalys Therapeutics, to explore what gout patients really need. They unpack what went wrong with Zurampic, why Dotinurad’s profile gives Crystalys Therapeutics a reason to come back to gout and how better trial design could finally move the field beyond old assumptions. For decades, gout has often been framed as a disease caused by lifestyle choices. This episode reframes the conversation entirely.

Learn about clinical trial design for small molecule therapies using biomarkers in Alzheimer's research and AI in drug development. Brandon Li talks with Sacha Schermerhorn, Founder and CEO of Babylon Biosciences. They discuss why the industry needs to rethink disease pathology, how to recruit elite talent out of retirement, and the role of fine-tuned AI models in predicting clinical outcomes for patients.

Dr. Aaron Koenig, Chief Medical Officer at Delix Therapeutics, sheds light on a new class of medicines designed to promote neuroplasticity without the hallucinogenic effects associated with psychedelics. On this episode of Power to the Patients, Koenig explains to host Brandon Li how neuroplasticogens could provide scalable treatments for depression and other serious brain disorders, why separating plasticity from psychedelic experiences matters for clinical development, and how emerging biomarkers such as qEEG may help measure brain changes in patients. The conversation spans scientific rationale, clinical challenges, and long term potential of plasticity-based therapeutics in psychiatry and neurology.

Postpartum depression treatment advances with psychedelic therapy. Greg Mayes of Reunion Neuroscience discusses luvesilocin drug development. This episode explores how shorter-acting psilocybin analogs offer new hope for mothers. Greg highlights the success of the RECONNECT study and the path to FDA breakthrough designation.

In this episode of Power to the Patients, host Brandon Li sits down with Ken Kramer, PhD, Vice President and Head of Neuropsychiatry Medical Affairs at Bristol Myers Squibb, to explore why psychiatry has lagged behind other therapeutic areas and what’s finally changing. Kramer explains how decades of reliance on dopamine-based antipsychotics shaped treatment, and why new mechanisms like muscarinic agonism are opening the door to safer, more effective options for patients with schizophrenia.

Explore how variant functionalization is driving the future of mechanism-driven medicines as host Brandon interviews Jason Coloma, CEO of Maze Therapeutics, on Power to the Patients. Jason explains why most gene-disease associations fail to become therapies, how APOL1-mediated kidney disease reveals the power of precision nephrology, and what it actually takes to build an integrated genetics-to-drug-discovery platform.

In this episode of Power to the Patients, host Brandon Li sits down with Dr. Ken Sharlin, neurologist, researcher, and clinical trial investigator, to explore how precision medicine, functional neurology, and emerging technologies are redefining what’s possible in neurodegenerative disease care. Dr. Sharlin challenges the traditional disease-centered model and shares why restoring biological balance - rather than simply managing symptoms, may unlock new pathways for prevention, reversal, and personalized treatment in conditions like MS, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s.