October 13, 2025 • 33 mins
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In this week's episode of the Business of Biotech -- part two in a four-part series recorded in-person at Catalyst Pharmaceuticals' Miami headquarters -- we're speaking with Daniel Teper, an entrepreneur and most recently, founder and CEO at NAYA Therapeutics. Based in South Florida, NAYA is developing NK-engaging bifunctional antibodies and Astatine-211 radiopharmaceuticals targeting hepatocellular carcinoma. Daniel discusses the company's decentralized manufacturing strategy, the current funding climate for early-stage companies, his plan to conduct clinical trials in China, and what's unique about the South Florida life sciences ecosystem.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ben Comer (00:07):
Welcome back to the Business of Biotech.
I'm your host, Ben Comer, ChiefEditor at Life Science Leader,
and today we're in beautifulMiami, Florida for a series of
episodes recorded on location atthe offices of Catalyst
Pharmaceuticals.
For this series, we're speakingwith some of the people
operating companies regionallyhere in the Sunshine State, and
(00:28):
I'm excited to speak with DanielTemper, founder and CEO at NAYA
Therapeutics, a companydeveloping cancer therapies
based on alpha-emitting radiopharmaceuticals and bifunctional
antibodies, two very hotmodalities in drug development
today.
Daniel has a diverse range ofexperiences in the life sciences
industry, spanning commercialand operational functions,
(00:51):
advertising and consulting,finance and company founding.
NAYA therapeutics is the latestcompany he's founded.
He's founded several.
And I'm pleased to have him onthe show today to learn about
NAYA Therapeutics, its foundingin 2023, what key opportunities
exist in radio pharmaceuticalsand bifunctional antibodies, and
(01:11):
why he set up his company inSouth Florida.
Thank you so much for beinghere, Daniel.
Thank you, Ben.
I mentioned your diversebackground of experiences just
now.
You've worked in most, if notall, of the key functional areas
required for biotech success.
Why not simply go deep in asingle functional area like
(01:32):
commercialization, for example?
Daniel Teper (01:35):
Well, I think in order to be successful in
biotech, you need to understandthe translation from the science
to the clinic to the patient.
And this is something that Ibring to my leadership, but that
the entire leadership team ofNIA also brings.
Ben Comer (01:54):
Having a diverse background of experiences.
Daniel Teper (01:57):
Having a diverse yet deep background in each of
the functions and being able tointegrate those different
aspects.
So of course, you know,science, particularly at early
stages, uh, trumps everything.
You need to have good scienceand good technology.
Uh, but at the end of the day,you want to develop products
(02:19):
that move the needle forpatients and for physicians.
Uh, so you have to constantlybenchmark what you're doing and
what you're developing to thepatient needs and the
competitive environment.
Ben Comer (02:35):
Right.
Yeah.
Um we at the business ofbiotech, we like to get to know
our guests a little bit throughuh learning about their
background.
And so I want to get to to Nayatherapeutics, but I wonder if
you could talk about a couple ofexperiences you've had prior to
founding Naya that that taughtyou something important, maybe,
or or served as a stepping stoneto founding Naya in 2023.
Daniel Teper (03:00):
You know, I'd like to say that being an
entrepreneur and even being acorporate leader is like
competitive sports.
Uh so you need to train a lot,but you also uh need to play a
lot and you need to havevictories and setbacks and learn
from your setbacks so that youplay better the next time.
Ben Comer (03:23):
Yeah.
You've worked, uh you, youknow, I mentioned you've worked
in advertising, you've worked inin strategy and consulting, uh,
you've you've had a number ofdifferent roles.
Is there a is there a favoritethat you've had?
You know, leaving out uhcompany formation and company
leadership, is there a is therea functional functional area uh
that you particularly liked?
Daniel Teper (03:45):
Uh I like uh putting together companies and
projects.
Uh so the ability that I'vedeveloped over the years of
taking different technologies,uh different products, and
making it into something that'smarketable.
Ben Comer (04:02):
Yeah.
Daniel Teper (04:03):
Uh that's one of my passion.
And if you look at how wecreated uh NAYA and previous
companies, it essentially is uhmatching the vision to what is
the reality, which technology doyou need, which target, which
cancer target are you goingafter, uh what disease you're
(04:24):
prioritizing.
When I was a strategyconsultant, I did a lot of
portfolio optimization for bigpharma.
And so which indication do youmove first, and which you move
second, and which you put aside.
Uh and you don't have to make adecision once for all.
You have to monitor is that isyour data good enough?
If it's not good enough, it'sbetter to stop the project.
(04:47):
Uh so constantly have a targetproduct profile, which sometimes
you know, scientists, in alldue respect, they fall in love
with the science.
Ben Comer (04:55):
Sure.
Daniel Teper (04:56):
And they don't realize that, you know, they
have to match the target, matchor exceed the target product
profile, you know, constantly.
Ben Comer (05:04):
On that company formation piece, you you know, I
mentioned in the intro you'veformed uh multiple companies at
this point.
Is there a playbook now foryou?
You know, the a set number ofthings like you're you're and
and maybe we can talk about itin the context of Naya.
Um, you know, what what was thecatalyst that led to that
founding?
And you know, what are thefirst things you do when you
(05:25):
decide, all right, I'm gonnastart up a new company?
Daniel Teper (05:28):
Yeah.
I I I think the playbook isalways evolving, you know, based
on what you learn and thecircumstances.
Uh clearly what I've learned uhover the years is that uh
timing is a critical successfactor.
Uh if you're too early with anidea or too late, you can't
succeed.
(05:48):
And I have to say, we'll getback to it is that with Naya, we
have the perfect timing forwhat we're doing.
And you know, some of it isluck, but the luck comes to
those who are prepared.
Ben Comer (06:02):
Uh we're in Miami.
Um, what are some of thereasons for headquartering,
founding the company uh in thisparticular place?
Daniel Teper (06:12):
Well, this is not my first time in Miami.
I've been back to Miami fiveyears ago, but clearly the Miami
uh of today is completelydifferent than the Miami where I
lived 15 years ago.
Uh it's a bubbling uhmetropolis.
Uh, it is actually a worldmetropolis that is competing
(06:34):
with New York and San Franciscoand a number of uh European and
Asian cities.
And that's why you see peoplecoming.
You know, it's not just thegateway to South America, and
South America is very important,but I think it's the gateway to
uh to the world, and people arerealizing that.
And now we're getting to acritical mass of people that are
(06:58):
coming from all horizonsgeographically, professions.
Um, you have great physicians,you have great financiers, all
in Miami.
And that's a recipe forsuccess.
Ben Comer (07:11):
Uh, you talked about timing in the formation of Naya.
So I'm I'm curious.
Let's let's talk let's dig intothat a little bit.
Um why was the time right in2023 to found Naya?
And was it because of you knowthe assets that you want to
develop, you know, the theproduct candidates?
Was that what made the timingright?
(07:32):
Or was it something else?
You know, what what cametogether and and spurred you on
to start the company then?
Daniel Teper (07:39):
So I I think I will I will cover it from two
angles.
Ben Comer (07:42):
Okay.
Daniel Teper (07:43):
Uh the the first one is when you're looking at
the genesis of unicorncompanies, typically those
unicorn companies have twoattributes is that they scale at
the right time, so not tooearly.
They know that there's a marketneed, they know that they have
a technology that works and thatcan match the uh the market
(08:07):
need.
And that's true not only inbiotech, that's true across
industry.
And then validated that thattechnology and that science you
know works.
Uh, if you do it too late, ifyou procrastinate on the science
and you want to have more data,you can also fail because in
the meantime, you know, you have10 and 100 uh companies
(08:31):
competing.
I think one of the examples isthe the PD1 VGF antibodies,
which is a project that weconsidered.
Uh, and at the time weconsidered it, uh, we had the
right technology internally.
We were force of fifths, and wegot a chance to differentiate.
And then within months, therewere 153 and probably more today
(08:53):
competitors.
So obviously we put it to theside.
Ben Comer (08:57):
Are we getting to that point with GLP1, do you
think?
Or has it become so crowded inthat space?
Everybody seems to want to haveone.
I'm just curious about yourthought on that, on timing-wise.
Daniel Teper (09:09):
So so it's all in the nuances.
And you know, I'll I'll talkabout GLP1, but uh also about
our assets.
Is if you're developing lastgeneration GLP1, for sure,
you're not competitive.
If you're developing an oralone and you have a technology
that works, that's a differentstory.
(09:30):
And you know, I'm I'moversimplifying, but that's the
big idea.
The same thing is true for theassets at NIA.
You know, some of the investorsare telling us, oh, it is
competitive.
And you say, what does it meanit's competitive?
Is there still an unmet medicalneed?
And if there's an unmet medicalneed, like there is an
(09:51):
hepatocellular carcinoma, ourlead indications, where over 75%
of the patients are notresponding to standard of care
and or you know, relapse.
And if you have half a dozenproducts in development, but the
different modalities anddifferent targets, and that you
(10:12):
can be, you know, either firstin class or best in class, or
you have a realistic shot atgetting there, then it's worth
going.
Ben Comer (10:20):
Right.
Let's talk about those assetsuh at Naya um a little bit more.
Um where well, I guess firstoff, where did they come from?
Where did you get them?
Daniel Teper (10:31):
So the the theory that I was giving you, we we did
actually put it into practice.
Ben Comer (10:36):
Okay.
Daniel Teper (10:37):
Uh so if we're talking about the bifunctional
antibodies, we uh sourced thebifunctional technology scaffold
from one of our founding uhscientists.
Ben Comer (10:48):
Oh, okay, so it's internal.
Daniel Teper (10:50):
Uh it's not totally internal.
He did it in an academicsetting, but we basically bought
his rights to uh to thetechnology.
Uh we identified uhepatocellular carcinoma and GPC3
as um epitocellular carcinomais an unmet medical need.
(11:11):
GPC3 has a great target.
Actually, GPC3 is probablytoday one of the very best
targets for cell tumors.
It's an oncophido protein, it'sexpressed only on tumor cells,
on liver tumor cells, uh, andand and a few other cancers, but
it's really on the tumor cellsand not on the healthy tissues.
(11:35):
So that's that's a greattarget, and it it has also a
pharmacological uh effect byitself.
Now, the the other component ofcreating the the bifunctional
antibody is what do we do toaccelerate the killing of the
cells.
I mean it's accelerate andsustain the the killing.
(11:56):
And immune cells can beredirected to kill the tumor
cells, and you can do it with Tcells, you can do it with NK
cells.
Um T cells have been moresuccessful, but uh activating T
cells also has significant sideeffects and and is is more
(12:17):
difficult to use.
NK cells, I would say the firstgeneration of NK cell engagers
has been disappointing becauseuh it didn't have a sustained
effect.
So we looked at the biology, weidentified NKP46 as an
activator of NK cells, which isconsistently expressed in the
(12:38):
tumor microenvironment,including in solid tumors, and
that does serial killing, thatreverse the dysfunction of
immune cells.
I mean, all those nuances ofthe science, you marry them to
what are you trying to achieveclinically?
And what you achieve clinicallydetermines what's the market
potential for your product.
Ben Comer (12:59):
Right.
What about the radionuclidethat you're developing?
Is that a separate asset or arethey working together in
combination?
How does that look?
Daniel Teper (13:08):
It's a synergistic asset.
Okay.
So it's not the same asset.
Right.
And obviously, we havebackgrounds in antibodies.
And in order to deliverradionuclides, you need a
vector, and antibodies andparticularly antibody fragments
are particularly uh areappropriate.
Uh the story that's interestingis that the scientists, you
(13:29):
know, our scientists that helpedus with the bifunctional
antibodies also worked in radiopharmaceuticals 25 years ago.
Wow.
And even took a product tophase two clinic successfully to
clean to phase two clinicaltrials.
So when he suggested to me thatthere are some new
radionuclides that we shouldconsider that will help uh
(13:52):
democratize the field.
I, you know, I was all ears andthe team was all ears, and and
I would say within a few monthswe were able to create new
products.
And remember that we have abifunctional antibody for HCC
that targets GPC3.
(14:14):
GPC3 is also a great target forradiopharmaceuticals.
Actually, Bayer and BristolMeyer Squibb are developing GPC3
actinium 225radiopharmaceuticals, they're in
phase one development, andobviously there's a reason why
they they move they're investingin there.
(14:36):
So we said if we take our GPC-3antibody, we uh define the
optimal construct, and forradiopharmaceutical, a fragment
is a better construct because italigns with the half-life of
the radionuclide.
Uh, and we have the optimal youknow, linker and we have the
(14:57):
optimal uh radionuclide.
And the optimal radionuclide uhwe believe is acetine-211.
And why is it optimal?
Uh it is very clean.
It's clean for manufacturing,it's clean at the clinical
level.
What do you mean by clean?
(15:18):
You know, radio uhradioactivity obviously um can
be dangerous.
Sure.
You have radioactive waste.
Ben Comer (15:28):
Absolutely, yeah.
Daniel Teper (15:30):
You have toxicity, you know, you have to shield uh
the units where you're treatingthe patients with most of the
uh, I would say legacyradionuclides.
Um if it has too long of ahalf-life, uh obviously you need
uh you have a risk of bonemarrow toxicity or kidney
(15:50):
toxicity.
So acetine-211 uh has beenaround for uh more than 20
years.
Uh acetine-211 is could be theGoldilocks of uh of
radionuclides.
It has a short half-life, 7.2hours.
(16:11):
It has a clean decay, which youknow, with a single daughter,
which means that you don't haveall the problems in uh in the
waste, you know, in the wastemanagement.
Um it requires much lessprotection than the other
radionuclide.
And it's been provenpreclinically and in early
(16:32):
clinical trials to work just aswell, you know, very precisely
killing the tumor andparticularly killing the
isolated cells.
I think what we forget often isthat it's not all about bulky
tumors and surgery andchemotherapy and immunotherapy.
It's also about residualdisease and metastasis.
(16:54):
Um, if you take prostatecancer, which is not an
indication that we're uhpursuing now, you can remove the
prostate with surgery.
But there's still you have arisk of relapse.
And what's the risk of relapseis that you have isolated cells
that are silent.
And so that's where uhradiopharmaceuticals are very
(17:17):
effective.
And sure you're familiar withPluvicto from Novartis.
So it's using a beta emitter,which is more difficult, more
toxic.
Uh, so the next generations arethe alpha emit emitters, which
are ectinium, lead, andastatine.
(17:37):
And we believe that astatine isgoing to be the winner.
There's a room for all three,but astatine is gonna be the
winner in the next 10 years.
Ben Comer (17:46):
So astatine 211, uh, you have that candidate.
You have your NK bifunctionaluh antibody, and you say they're
synergistic, and you'redeveloping them both for the
same indication, but are theyadministered separately uh in
concert with each other?
Daniel Teper (18:03):
So astatine is not a product.
Astatine is a component of theradiopharmaceutical So you have
one product which is GPC3 NKP46,it redirects NK cell to kill
the tumor cells.
Ben Comer (18:17):
Okay.
Daniel Teper (18:18):
It is positioned in non-responders to
immunotherapy and particularlyto checkpoint inhibitors plus or
minus a VGEF inhibitor like aVASTIN.
Uh that's a huge market.
That's 75% of the patients thatare treated with drug therapy.
Um the second product is GPC3linked to astatine 211.
(18:46):
So that's aradiopharmaceutical.
I see.
Its use is slightly different.
So, first of all, it's veryappropriate to use it uh in the
half of the patients that arenot getting drug therapy,
they're getting surgery,ablation, uh, taste.
Uh, and that what what youneed, you need uh uh
(19:08):
radiopharmaceuticals aroundthose procedures before or after
to eliminate the isolated cellsand to minimize the risk of
metastasis.
Now, later in the treatments,either after checkpoint
inhibitors or after the GPC3 NKengager, you can also treat, do
(19:31):
a short course of uh of GPC3astatine just to make sure that
you're uh you're proactivelyhandling the risk of metastasis.
And there's even, you know, Iwant to I want to mention
because I just read ityesterday, there's some early
experiments of uh ofradiopharmaceuticals in uh in
(19:55):
lever metastasis.
So you can get lever metastasisfrom breast cancer and other
tumors.
So that's more on theexplorational side, but that's
again uh a huge unmet medicalneed.
Ben Comer (20:10):
Um there's obviously a lot of excitement about radio
pharmaceuticals.
Generally, some really bigdeals uh have happened in that
space.
Um there's a lot of excitementabout alpha emitters uh in
particular, as you've mentioned.
Um, in the past, supply chain,isotope half-life have have
added a layer of complexity tosupply chain manufacturing
(20:33):
commercialization.
Um, what can you tell me about,I guess, Naya's approach to
sourcing uh astatine 211 and umand how you're scaling up
manufacturing?
Daniel Teper (20:46):
Sure.
Uh so until I would say thelast few months, astatine 211
was restricted to just a fewacademic centers, two or three
in the US, two or three inEurope, Japan uh was relatively
more advanced in terms of theinfrastructure because you
(21:08):
needed to have the cyclotron,the radiochemistry lab, and the
patient in the same location.
Ben Comer (21:15):
Okay.
Daniel Teper (21:16):
So that's that's very restrictive.
Ben Comer (21:18):
Right.
Daniel Teper (21:19):
Uh and what changed uh what changed this
year, and that's where you knowhaving all the stars aligned is
extremely important, is that theAtlas E100 machine from Atlas
Solutions in Sweden uh was wasreleased, and that machine
(21:43):
allows for automatedpurification, conjugation, and
production of therapeutic doseum locally.
So essentially, without gettinginto much detail, uh the the
way uh our products are uh arebeing manufactured and will be
manufactured in the future, isthat you need a central or
(22:05):
regional cyclotron where you'rebombarded bombarding bismuth
with alpha particle, and thatgives you astatine powder on a
target, and that target cantravel easily and can be shipped
to a local um lab uh where youcan do the GMP therapeutic dose.
(22:26):
So that local lab can be inMiami, can be in New York, can
be in San Francisco.
Ben Comer (22:31):
Okay.
Daniel Teper (22:31):
Uh Bismuth, by the way, is widely abundant, right?
And it's very inexpensive.
That's a big contrast with whatwe're seeing with the other
radioisotope that you knowrequires source of uranium or
nuclear waste.
So that's that's a bigdifference.
So our vision is essentiallythat uh they will be uh five or
(22:56):
six uh commercial regionalcyclotrons, and we have a
partnership with Ionetics uhcurrently based in Michigan, but
they have plans to expand.
There are other companies alsodoing that.
Um and then you will havemultiple decentralized GMP
micromanufacturing units, whichare not capital intensive.
(23:19):
And I would say for the US,it's probably between 10 and 20,
depending on the coverage thatyou want.
Ben Comer (23:26):
Okay.
Uh that's excellent.
I I appreciate that.
I I want to um ask about Naya'suh current financial situation
and runway, but really I guesswhat I'm looking for is um what
the current investor situationis like for you know a company
that's in the early stagesdeveloping some really novel
products.
(23:46):
You know, what's what's yourread on the investor situation
right now?
And do you think it's improvingor or not?
Daniel Teper (23:55):
I think after the summer, uh the investors are
looking for opportunities.
And the reason they're lookingfor opportunities is because
they see the constant appetiteof uh pharma companies uh for
novel biotech.
I think it's up to 75% of theproducts are being sourced uh
(24:17):
from biotech companies.
Ben Comer (24:19):
Yeah, right.
Daniel Teper (24:20):
Now they're being sourced uh earlier and earlier.
This is something that I alwayslike to illustrate.
Uh the 304 transactions inradio pharmaceuticals are phase
one, phase two at the latest,sometimes even you know,
pre-clinical.
Ben Comer (24:39):
A couple of those are billion-dollar transactions.
Daniel Teper (24:41):
They're multi-billion dollars.
So I like to say that you know,the some of the best
transactions, whether it'sbifunctional antibody, by the
way, or radio pharmaceuticals,they're one to four billion
dollars, I would say, in phaseone, two.
And once you get into phasetwo, three, it's five to ten
(25:03):
billion.
I mean, we just saw this weekuh GenMab, which is not a big
pharma, it's uh it's a largebiotech acquiring mirrors, which
is in phase two, three foreight billion dollars.
Ben Comer (25:15):
Yeah.
Daniel Teper (25:16):
So obviously that's attractive for investors
because investors today arelooking for exit in the
relatively short term.
So I would say on on average,and and and we do the same.
So we're saying if there's notan exit, an exit can be without
licensing, it could be an MA, itcould be an IPO.
(25:38):
So if you don't have aninflection point that justifies
an exit strategy within twoyears, then it's much less
investable.
Uh so in in that context, NIAhas a pipeline with clinical
infection inflection points thatsupport an exit.
(26:02):
And again, it doesn't meanselling necessarily the company.
It could be just out-licensingone or two products or doing an
IPO within the next uh the nexttwo years.
So in uh we uh we're currentlyraising series A of $75 million
uh with institutional investors.
Uh this is you know in therange of the transaction, the
(26:23):
high quality transaction that uhhave been announced in the last
uh few months, and that uh thatcovers actually the execution
uh of the development uh up touh clinical data.
Ben Comer (26:38):
So, what is your um from a I guess a clinical
perspective, what is themilestone that's your top
priority for the company rightnow?
What what's next for the thetwo assets that you're
developing?
Daniel Teper (26:51):
So we are starting to treat patients um in the
first half of 2026 for thebifunctional antibody, and in
the second half for the uh theGPC3 uh astatine uh radioform.
Uh because of the nature ofoncology, those those trials are
(27:12):
uh uh are open and you get dataas you go.
So we anticipate that in early2027 we'll have initial data,
actually potentially on both ofthem.
And by the end of 2027, we'llhave more comprehensive data.
The number of transactions thatwith only 30 patients have
(27:35):
sparked the interest of um ofpharma companies.
So we want to be fundedsufficiently so that we can
progress on our own, butobviously we're open to you know
partnering with pharma toaccelerate.
Uh, we're also you know quiteagile.
So I'll give you an example.
Uh we're considering doing theinitial uh clinical trial for
(27:58):
the astatine product in China.
Oh, interesting.
Uh and the reason of China isthat you can do
investigator-initiated trialsfaster than you can get an IND.
Uh, HCC is extremely prevalentin China.
So you can recruit 20, 30patients within a few months,
(28:21):
and you can get substantialdata.
Ben Comer (28:25):
Now, that would be you would have to anonymize that
data to bring it back to theUS, right?
Or would you be doing that umin an effort to commercialize in
in China eventually?
Daniel Teper (28:34):
So eventually we want to commercialize in China
or whoever our partner is wouldcommercialize in China and it
it's a huge market.
But I'm sure uh I meaneverybody is talking about all
the deals that are sourced fromChina.
Yeah.
Uh and whether it's pharmacompanies or VCs, unfortunately
(28:56):
for us, they're sourcing dealsin China.
Ben Comer (28:59):
Right.
Daniel Teper (29:00):
So the question is as an American company, can we
be smarter and take advantage ofthe infrastructure in China to
get data sooner?
Ben Comer (29:10):
Yeah.
Daniel Teper (29:11):
And and we believe we can do that.
Uh, we have a partnership thatuh we're planning to announce
you know shortly with a companythat has capabilities for GMP
manufacturing in China.
In China of astatine products.
Wow.
Uh which actually that's acompany that was started by uh
(29:34):
two very renowned academicscientists from the US.
So you have more and more youknow movements.
Uh the the word is you know isnot isolated.
So you it's coming from the USto China, from China to the US.
I think India in the futurewill also you know rise.
(29:54):
Um so anyway, moving faster,being lean.
Not spending money for the sakeof spending money, uh, putting
the standards very high in theexecution, but making sure that
every dollar that we invest indevelopment matters and gets us
closer to clinical data?
Ben Comer (30:16):
I want to ask a question for the listeners of
the business of biotech, many ofwhom are at very early stage
preclinical companies or eventhinking of starting a company.
What case would you make tothem about setting up their
company in Miami?
And what is some advice youwould give to maybe a first-time
company leader?
Daniel Teper (30:37):
I would definitely, and I am
recommending uh uh entrepreneursto move to Miami.
It's a very unique environment.
Uh you know, some of the otherecosystems are very mature, uh,
they're very crowded.
Uh Miami is rising, it's notcrowded, it's entrepreneurial,
(31:00):
everybody wants to worktogether.
Uh, you have easily access tokey opinion leaders, you have
easily access to investors,including institutional
investors and and bankers.
And you know, it's it's it'slike uh immigrants moving to a
new territory and wanting tobuild something together.
(31:21):
And so that's a uniqueenvironment that I don't think
there's any other place in theUS that an entrepreneur can find
that.
Ben Comer (31:29):
Final question, and I'm asking this of everyone that
I'm speaking with uh while I'mdown here in Miami.
Uh it's a hypothetical, whichis let's assume you find
yourself in the predicted pathof a category four or category
five hurricane.
Do you board everything up andhonker down, or do you pack up
the car uh and get out?
Daniel Teper (31:51):
Are you talking about personal or for the
company?
Personal.
Um I've been through hurricanesin the past, being in Miami.
And um I I would say stay here.
There are risks everywhere inthe world.
There are risk in California,there's even risk in New York
City that uh you know water wesubmerge Manhattan.
Ben Comer (32:14):
Right.
Daniel Teper (32:15):
Uh there's unfortunately, you know, risks
of war.
Uh so I don't think there'smore risk in Miami than any
other place.
Ben Comer (32:23):
All right, we're two for two on stay in town and
hunker down during thehurricane.
Uh, thank you so much forspeaking with me, Daniel.
Uh, we've been speaking withDaniel Tepper, founder and CEO
at Naya Therapeutics.
I'm Ben Comer, and you've justlistened to the Business of
Biotech.
Find us and subscribe anywhereyou listen to podcasts, and be
sure to check out our new weeklyvideo cast of these
(32:45):
conversations every Monday underthe Business of Biotech tab at
lifescienceleader.com.
We'll see you next week, andthanks as always for listening.
Daniel Teper (32:54):
Thank you, Ben.
Welcome back to the Business of Biotech.
I'm your host, Ben Comer, ChiefEditor at Life Science Leader,
and today we're in beautifulMiami, Florida for a series of
episodes recorded on location atthe offices of Catalyst
Pharmaceuticals.
For this series, we're speakingwith some of the people
operating companies regionallyhere in the Sunshine State, and
(00:28):
I'm excited to speak with DanielTemper, founder and CEO at NAYA
Therapeutics, a companydeveloping cancer therapies
based on alpha-emitting radiopharmaceuticals and bifunctional
antibodies, two very hotmodalities in drug development
today.
Daniel has a diverse range ofexperiences in the life sciences
industry, spanning commercialand operational functions,
(00:51):
advertising and consulting,finance and company founding.
NAYA therapeutics is the latestcompany he's founded.
He's founded several.
And I'm pleased to have him onthe show today to learn about
NAYA Therapeutics, its foundingin 2023, what key opportunities
exist in radio pharmaceuticalsand bifunctional antibodies, and
(01:11):
why he set up his company inSouth Florida.
Thank you so much for beinghere, Daniel.
Thank you, Ben.
I mentioned your diversebackground of experiences just
now.
You've worked in most, if notall, of the key functional areas
required for biotech success.
Why not simply go deep in asingle functional area like
(01:32):
commercialization, for example?
Daniel Teper (01:35):
Well, I think in order to be successful in
biotech, you need to understandthe translation from the science
to the clinic to the patient.
And this is something that Ibring to my leadership, but that
the entire leadership team ofNIA also brings.
Ben Comer (01:54):
Having a diverse background of experiences.
Daniel Teper (01:57):
Having a diverse yet deep background in each of
the functions and being able tointegrate those different
aspects.
So of course, you know,science, particularly at early
stages, uh, trumps everything.
You need to have good scienceand good technology.
Uh, but at the end of the day,you want to develop products
(02:19):
that move the needle forpatients and for physicians.
Uh, so you have to constantlybenchmark what you're doing and
what you're developing to thepatient needs and the
competitive environment.
Ben Comer (02:35):
Right.
Yeah.
Um we at the business ofbiotech, we like to get to know
our guests a little bit throughuh learning about their
background.
And so I want to get to to Nayatherapeutics, but I wonder if
you could talk about a couple ofexperiences you've had prior to
founding Naya that that taughtyou something important, maybe,
or or served as a stepping stoneto founding Naya in 2023.
Daniel Teper (03:00):
You know, I'd like to say that being an
entrepreneur and even being acorporate leader is like
competitive sports.
Uh so you need to train a lot,but you also uh need to play a
lot and you need to havevictories and setbacks and learn
from your setbacks so that youplay better the next time.
Ben Comer (03:23):
Yeah.
You've worked, uh you, youknow, I mentioned you've worked
in advertising, you've worked inin strategy and consulting, uh,
you've you've had a number ofdifferent roles.
Is there a is there a favoritethat you've had?
You know, leaving out uhcompany formation and company
leadership, is there a is therea functional functional area uh
that you particularly liked?
Daniel Teper (03:45):
Uh I like uh putting together companies and
projects.
Uh so the ability that I'vedeveloped over the years of
taking different technologies,uh different products, and
making it into something that'smarketable.
Ben Comer (04:02):
Yeah.
Daniel Teper (04:03):
Uh that's one of my passion.
And if you look at how wecreated uh NAYA and previous
companies, it essentially is uhmatching the vision to what is
the reality, which technology doyou need, which target, which
cancer target are you goingafter, uh what disease you're
(04:24):
prioritizing.
When I was a strategyconsultant, I did a lot of
portfolio optimization for bigpharma.
And so which indication do youmove first, and which you move
second, and which you put aside.
Uh and you don't have to make adecision once for all.
You have to monitor is that isyour data good enough?
If it's not good enough, it'sbetter to stop the project.
(04:47):
Uh so constantly have a targetproduct profile, which sometimes
you know, scientists, in alldue respect, they fall in love
with the science.
Ben Comer (04:55):
Sure.
Daniel Teper (04:56):
And they don't realize that, you know, they
have to match the target, matchor exceed the target product
profile, you know, constantly.
Ben Comer (05:04):
On that company formation piece, you you know, I
mentioned in the intro you'veformed uh multiple companies at
this point.
Is there a playbook now foryou?
You know, the a set number ofthings like you're you're and
and maybe we can talk about itin the context of Naya.
Um, you know, what what was thecatalyst that led to that
founding?
And you know, what are thefirst things you do when you
(05:25):
decide, all right, I'm gonnastart up a new company?
Daniel Teper (05:28):
Yeah.
I I I think the playbook isalways evolving, you know, based
on what you learn and thecircumstances.
Uh clearly what I've learned uhover the years is that uh
timing is a critical successfactor.
Uh if you're too early with anidea or too late, you can't
succeed.
(05:48):
And I have to say, we'll getback to it is that with Naya, we
have the perfect timing forwhat we're doing.
And you know, some of it isluck, but the luck comes to
those who are prepared.
Ben Comer (06:02):
Uh we're in Miami.
Um, what are some of thereasons for headquartering,
founding the company uh in thisparticular place?
Daniel Teper (06:12):
Well, this is not my first time in Miami.
I've been back to Miami fiveyears ago, but clearly the Miami
uh of today is completelydifferent than the Miami where I
lived 15 years ago.
Uh it's a bubbling uhmetropolis.
Uh, it is actually a worldmetropolis that is competing
(06:34):
with New York and San Franciscoand a number of uh European and
Asian cities.
And that's why you see peoplecoming.
You know, it's not just thegateway to South America, and
South America is very important,but I think it's the gateway to
uh to the world, and people arerealizing that.
And now we're getting to acritical mass of people that are
(06:58):
coming from all horizonsgeographically, professions.
Um, you have great physicians,you have great financiers, all
in Miami.
And that's a recipe forsuccess.
Ben Comer (07:11):
Uh, you talked about timing in the formation of Naya.
So I'm I'm curious.
Let's let's talk let's dig intothat a little bit.
Um why was the time right in2023 to found Naya?
And was it because of you knowthe assets that you want to
develop, you know, the theproduct candidates?
Was that what made the timingright?
(07:32):
Or was it something else?
You know, what what cametogether and and spurred you on
to start the company then?
Daniel Teper (07:39):
So I I think I will I will cover it from two
angles.
Ben Comer (07:42):
Okay.
Daniel Teper (07:43):
Uh the the first one is when you're looking at
the genesis of unicorncompanies, typically those
unicorn companies have twoattributes is that they scale at
the right time, so not tooearly.
They know that there's a marketneed, they know that they have
a technology that works and thatcan match the uh the market
(08:07):
need.
And that's true not only inbiotech, that's true across
industry.
And then validated that thattechnology and that science you
know works.
Uh, if you do it too late, ifyou procrastinate on the science
and you want to have more data,you can also fail because in
the meantime, you know, you have10 and 100 uh companies
(08:31):
competing.
I think one of the examples isthe the PD1 VGF antibodies,
which is a project that weconsidered.
Uh, and at the time weconsidered it, uh, we had the
right technology internally.
We were force of fifths, and wegot a chance to differentiate.
And then within months, therewere 153 and probably more today
(08:53):
competitors.
So obviously we put it to theside.
Ben Comer (08:57):
Are we getting to that point with GLP1, do you
think?
Or has it become so crowded inthat space?
Everybody seems to want to haveone.
I'm just curious about yourthought on that, on timing-wise.
Daniel Teper (09:09):
So so it's all in the nuances.
And you know, I'll I'll talkabout GLP1, but uh also about
our assets.
Is if you're developing lastgeneration GLP1, for sure,
you're not competitive.
If you're developing an oralone and you have a technology
that works, that's a differentstory.
(09:30):
And you know, I'm I'moversimplifying, but that's the
big idea.
The same thing is true for theassets at NIA.
You know, some of the investorsare telling us, oh, it is
competitive.
And you say, what does it meanit's competitive?
Is there still an unmet medicalneed?
And if there's an unmet medicalneed, like there is an
(09:51):
hepatocellular carcinoma, ourlead indications, where over 75%
of the patients are notresponding to standard of care
and or you know, relapse.
And if you have half a dozenproducts in development, but the
different modalities anddifferent targets, and that you
(10:12):
can be, you know, either firstin class or best in class, or
you have a realistic shot atgetting there, then it's worth
going.
Ben Comer (10:20):
Right.
Let's talk about those assetsuh at Naya um a little bit more.
Um where well, I guess firstoff, where did they come from?
Where did you get them?
Daniel Teper (10:31):
So the the theory that I was giving you, we we did
actually put it into practice.
Ben Comer (10:36):
Okay.
Daniel Teper (10:37):
Uh so if we're talking about the bifunctional
antibodies, we uh sourced thebifunctional technology scaffold
from one of our founding uhscientists.
Ben Comer (10:48):
Oh, okay, so it's internal.
Daniel Teper (10:50):
Uh it's not totally internal.
He did it in an academicsetting, but we basically bought
his rights to uh to thetechnology.
Uh we identified uhepatocellular carcinoma and GPC3
as um epitocellular carcinomais an unmet medical need.
(11:11):
GPC3 has a great target.
Actually, GPC3 is probablytoday one of the very best
targets for cell tumors.
It's an oncophido protein, it'sexpressed only on tumor cells,
on liver tumor cells, uh, andand and a few other cancers, but
it's really on the tumor cellsand not on the healthy tissues.
(11:35):
So that's that's a greattarget, and it it has also a
pharmacological uh effect byitself.
Now, the the other component ofcreating the the bifunctional
antibody is what do we do toaccelerate the killing of the
cells.
I mean it's accelerate andsustain the the killing.
(11:56):
And immune cells can beredirected to kill the tumor
cells, and you can do it with Tcells, you can do it with NK
cells.
Um T cells have been moresuccessful, but uh activating T
cells also has significant sideeffects and and is is more
(12:17):
difficult to use.
NK cells, I would say the firstgeneration of NK cell engagers
has been disappointing becauseuh it didn't have a sustained
effect.
So we looked at the biology, weidentified NKP46 as an
activator of NK cells, which isconsistently expressed in the
(12:38):
tumor microenvironment,including in solid tumors, and
that does serial killing, thatreverse the dysfunction of
immune cells.
I mean, all those nuances ofthe science, you marry them to
what are you trying to achieveclinically?
And what you achieve clinicallydetermines what's the market
potential for your product.
Ben Comer (12:59):
Right.
What about the radionuclidethat you're developing?
Is that a separate asset or arethey working together in
combination?
How does that look?
Daniel Teper (13:08):
It's a synergistic asset.
Okay.
So it's not the same asset.
Right.
And obviously, we havebackgrounds in antibodies.
And in order to deliverradionuclides, you need a
vector, and antibodies andparticularly antibody fragments
are particularly uh areappropriate.
Uh the story that's interestingis that the scientists, you
(13:29):
know, our scientists that helpedus with the bifunctional
antibodies also worked in radiopharmaceuticals 25 years ago.
Wow.
And even took a product tophase two clinic successfully to
clean to phase two clinicaltrials.
So when he suggested to me thatthere are some new
radionuclides that we shouldconsider that will help uh
(13:52):
democratize the field.
I, you know, I was all ears andthe team was all ears, and and
I would say within a few monthswe were able to create new
products.
And remember that we have abifunctional antibody for HCC
that targets GPC3.
(14:14):
GPC3 is also a great target forradiopharmaceuticals.
Actually, Bayer and BristolMeyer Squibb are developing GPC3
actinium 225radiopharmaceuticals, they're in
phase one development, andobviously there's a reason why
they they move they're investingin there.
(14:36):
So we said if we take our GPC-3antibody, we uh define the
optimal construct, and forradiopharmaceutical, a fragment
is a better construct because italigns with the half-life of
the radionuclide.
Uh, and we have the optimal youknow, linker and we have the
(14:57):
optimal uh radionuclide.
And the optimal radionuclide uhwe believe is acetine-211.
And why is it optimal?
Uh it is very clean.
It's clean for manufacturing,it's clean at the clinical
level.
What do you mean by clean?
(15:18):
You know, radio uhradioactivity obviously um can
be dangerous.
Sure.
You have radioactive waste.
Ben Comer (15:28):
Absolutely, yeah.
Daniel Teper (15:30):
You have toxicity, you know, you have to shield uh
the units where you're treatingthe patients with most of the
uh, I would say legacyradionuclides.
Um if it has too long of ahalf-life, uh obviously you need
uh you have a risk of bonemarrow toxicity or kidney
(15:50):
toxicity.
So acetine-211 uh has beenaround for uh more than 20
years.
Uh acetine-211 is could be theGoldilocks of uh of
radionuclides.
It has a short half-life, 7.2hours.
(16:11):
It has a clean decay, which youknow, with a single daughter,
which means that you don't haveall the problems in uh in the
waste, you know, in the wastemanagement.
Um it requires much lessprotection than the other
radionuclide.
And it's been provenpreclinically and in early
(16:32):
clinical trials to work just aswell, you know, very precisely
killing the tumor andparticularly killing the
isolated cells.
I think what we forget often isthat it's not all about bulky
tumors and surgery andchemotherapy and immunotherapy.
It's also about residualdisease and metastasis.
(16:54):
Um, if you take prostatecancer, which is not an
indication that we're uhpursuing now, you can remove the
prostate with surgery.
But there's still you have arisk of relapse.
And what's the risk of relapseis that you have isolated cells
that are silent.
And so that's where uhradiopharmaceuticals are very
(17:17):
effective.
And sure you're familiar withPluvicto from Novartis.
So it's using a beta emitter,which is more difficult, more
toxic.
Uh, so the next generations arethe alpha emit emitters, which
are ectinium, lead, andastatine.
(17:37):
And we believe that astatine isgoing to be the winner.
There's a room for all three,but astatine is gonna be the
winner in the next 10 years.
Ben Comer (17:46):
So astatine 211, uh, you have that candidate.
You have your NK bifunctionaluh antibody, and you say they're
synergistic, and you'redeveloping them both for the
same indication, but are theyadministered separately uh in
concert with each other?
Daniel Teper (18:03):
So astatine is not a product.
Astatine is a component of theradiopharmaceutical So you have
one product which is GPC3 NKP46,it redirects NK cell to kill
the tumor cells.
Ben Comer (18:17):
Okay.
Daniel Teper (18:18):
It is positioned in non-responders to
immunotherapy and particularlyto checkpoint inhibitors plus or
minus a VGEF inhibitor like aVASTIN.
Uh that's a huge market.
That's 75% of the patients thatare treated with drug therapy.
Um the second product is GPC3linked to astatine 211.
(18:46):
So that's aradiopharmaceutical.
I see.
Its use is slightly different.
So, first of all, it's veryappropriate to use it uh in the
half of the patients that arenot getting drug therapy,
they're getting surgery,ablation, uh, taste.
Uh, and that what what youneed, you need uh uh
(19:08):
radiopharmaceuticals aroundthose procedures before or after
to eliminate the isolated cellsand to minimize the risk of
metastasis.
Now, later in the treatments,either after checkpoint
inhibitors or after the GPC3 NKengager, you can also treat, do
(19:31):
a short course of uh of GPC3astatine just to make sure that
you're uh you're proactivelyhandling the risk of metastasis.
And there's even, you know, Iwant to I want to mention
because I just read ityesterday, there's some early
experiments of uh ofradiopharmaceuticals in uh in
(19:55):
lever metastasis.
So you can get lever metastasisfrom breast cancer and other
tumors.
So that's more on theexplorational side, but that's
again uh a huge unmet medicalneed.
Ben Comer (20:10):
Um there's obviously a lot of excitement about radio
pharmaceuticals.
Generally, some really bigdeals uh have happened in that
space.
Um there's a lot of excitementabout alpha emitters uh in
particular, as you've mentioned.
Um, in the past, supply chain,isotope half-life have have
added a layer of complexity tosupply chain manufacturing
(20:33):
commercialization.
Um, what can you tell me about,I guess, Naya's approach to
sourcing uh astatine 211 and umand how you're scaling up
manufacturing?
Daniel Teper (20:46):
Sure.
Uh so until I would say thelast few months, astatine 211
was restricted to just a fewacademic centers, two or three
in the US, two or three inEurope, Japan uh was relatively
more advanced in terms of theinfrastructure because you
(21:08):
needed to have the cyclotron,the radiochemistry lab, and the
patient in the same location.
Ben Comer (21:15):
Okay.
Daniel Teper (21:16):
So that's that's very restrictive.
Ben Comer (21:18):
Right.
Daniel Teper (21:19):
Uh and what changed uh what changed this
year, and that's where you knowhaving all the stars aligned is
extremely important, is that theAtlas E100 machine from Atlas
Solutions in Sweden uh was wasreleased, and that machine
(21:43):
allows for automatedpurification, conjugation, and
production of therapeutic doseum locally.
So essentially, without gettinginto much detail, uh the the
way uh our products are uh arebeing manufactured and will be
manufactured in the future, isthat you need a central or
(22:05):
regional cyclotron where you'rebombarded bombarding bismuth
with alpha particle, and thatgives you astatine powder on a
target, and that target cantravel easily and can be shipped
to a local um lab uh where youcan do the GMP therapeutic dose.
(22:26):
So that local lab can be inMiami, can be in New York, can
be in San Francisco.
Ben Comer (22:31):
Okay.
Daniel Teper (22:31):
Uh Bismuth, by the way, is widely abundant, right?
And it's very inexpensive.
That's a big contrast with whatwe're seeing with the other
radioisotope that you knowrequires source of uranium or
nuclear waste.
So that's that's a bigdifference.
So our vision is essentiallythat uh they will be uh five or
(22:56):
six uh commercial regionalcyclotrons, and we have a
partnership with Ionetics uhcurrently based in Michigan, but
they have plans to expand.
There are other companies alsodoing that.
Um and then you will havemultiple decentralized GMP
micromanufacturing units, whichare not capital intensive.
(23:19):
And I would say for the US,it's probably between 10 and 20,
depending on the coverage thatyou want.
Ben Comer (23:26):
Okay.
Uh that's excellent.
I I appreciate that.
I I want to um ask about Naya'suh current financial situation
and runway, but really I guesswhat I'm looking for is um what
the current investor situationis like for you know a company
that's in the early stagesdeveloping some really novel
products.
(23:46):
You know, what's what's yourread on the investor situation
right now?
And do you think it's improvingor or not?
Daniel Teper (23:55):
I think after the summer, uh the investors are
looking for opportunities.
And the reason they're lookingfor opportunities is because
they see the constant appetiteof uh pharma companies uh for
novel biotech.
I think it's up to 75% of theproducts are being sourced uh
(24:17):
from biotech companies.
Ben Comer (24:19):
Yeah, right.
Daniel Teper (24:20):
Now they're being sourced uh earlier and earlier.
This is something that I alwayslike to illustrate.
Uh the 304 transactions inradio pharmaceuticals are phase
one, phase two at the latest,sometimes even you know,
pre-clinical.
Ben Comer (24:39):
A couple of those are billion-dollar transactions.
Daniel Teper (24:41):
They're multi-billion dollars.
So I like to say that you know,the some of the best
transactions, whether it'sbifunctional antibody, by the
way, or radio pharmaceuticals,they're one to four billion
dollars, I would say, in phaseone, two.
And once you get into phasetwo, three, it's five to ten
(25:03):
billion.
I mean, we just saw this weekuh GenMab, which is not a big
pharma, it's uh it's a largebiotech acquiring mirrors, which
is in phase two, three foreight billion dollars.
Ben Comer (25:15):
Yeah.
Daniel Teper (25:16):
So obviously that's attractive for investors
because investors today arelooking for exit in the
relatively short term.
So I would say on on average,and and and we do the same.
So we're saying if there's notan exit, an exit can be without
licensing, it could be an MA, itcould be an IPO.
(25:38):
So if you don't have aninflection point that justifies
an exit strategy within twoyears, then it's much less
investable.
Uh so in in that context, NIAhas a pipeline with clinical
infection inflection points thatsupport an exit.
(26:02):
And again, it doesn't meanselling necessarily the company.
It could be just out-licensingone or two products or doing an
IPO within the next uh the nexttwo years.
So in uh we uh we're currentlyraising series A of $75 million
uh with institutional investors.
Uh this is you know in therange of the transaction, the
(26:23):
high quality transaction that uhhave been announced in the last
uh few months, and that uh thatcovers actually the execution
uh of the development uh up touh clinical data.
Ben Comer (26:38):
So, what is your um from a I guess a clinical
perspective, what is themilestone that's your top
priority for the company rightnow?
What what's next for the thetwo assets that you're
developing?
Daniel Teper (26:51):
So we are starting to treat patients um in the
first half of 2026 for thebifunctional antibody, and in
the second half for the uh theGPC3 uh astatine uh radioform.
Uh because of the nature ofoncology, those those trials are
(27:12):
uh uh are open and you get dataas you go.
So we anticipate that in early2027 we'll have initial data,
actually potentially on both ofthem.
And by the end of 2027, we'llhave more comprehensive data.
The number of transactions thatwith only 30 patients have
(27:35):
sparked the interest of um ofpharma companies.
So we want to be fundedsufficiently so that we can
progress on our own, butobviously we're open to you know
partnering with pharma toaccelerate.
Uh, we're also you know quiteagile.
So I'll give you an example.
Uh we're considering doing theinitial uh clinical trial for
(27:58):
the astatine product in China.
Oh, interesting.
Uh and the reason of China isthat you can do
investigator-initiated trialsfaster than you can get an IND.
Uh, HCC is extremely prevalentin China.
So you can recruit 20, 30patients within a few months,
(28:21):
and you can get substantialdata.
Ben Comer (28:25):
Now, that would be you would have to anonymize that
data to bring it back to theUS, right?
Or would you be doing that umin an effort to commercialize in
in China eventually?
Daniel Teper (28:34):
So eventually we want to commercialize in China
or whoever our partner is wouldcommercialize in China and it
it's a huge market.
But I'm sure uh I meaneverybody is talking about all
the deals that are sourced fromChina.
Yeah.
Uh and whether it's pharmacompanies or VCs, unfortunately
(28:56):
for us, they're sourcing dealsin China.
Ben Comer (28:59):
Right.
Daniel Teper (29:00):
So the question is as an American company, can we
be smarter and take advantage ofthe infrastructure in China to
get data sooner?
Ben Comer (29:10):
Yeah.
Daniel Teper (29:11):
And and we believe we can do that.
Uh, we have a partnership thatuh we're planning to announce
you know shortly with a companythat has capabilities for GMP
manufacturing in China.
In China of astatine products.
Wow.
Uh which actually that's acompany that was started by uh
(29:34):
two very renowned academicscientists from the US.
So you have more and more youknow movements.
Uh the the word is you know isnot isolated.
So you it's coming from the USto China, from China to the US.
I think India in the futurewill also you know rise.
(29:54):
Um so anyway, moving faster,being lean.
Not spending money for the sakeof spending money, uh, putting
the standards very high in theexecution, but making sure that
every dollar that we invest indevelopment matters and gets us
closer to clinical data?
Ben Comer (30:16):
I want to ask a question for the listeners of
the business of biotech, many ofwhom are at very early stage
preclinical companies or eventhinking of starting a company.
What case would you make tothem about setting up their
company in Miami?
And what is some advice youwould give to maybe a first-time
company leader?
Daniel Teper (30:37):
I would definitely, and I am
recommending uh uh entrepreneursto move to Miami.
It's a very unique environment.
Uh you know, some of the otherecosystems are very mature, uh,
they're very crowded.
Uh Miami is rising, it's notcrowded, it's entrepreneurial,
(31:00):
everybody wants to worktogether.
Uh, you have easily access tokey opinion leaders, you have
easily access to investors,including institutional
investors and and bankers.
And you know, it's it's it'slike uh immigrants moving to a
new territory and wanting tobuild something together.
(31:21):
And so that's a uniqueenvironment that I don't think
there's any other place in theUS that an entrepreneur can find
that.
Ben Comer (31:29):
Final question, and I'm asking this of everyone that
I'm speaking with uh while I'mdown here in Miami.
Uh it's a hypothetical, whichis let's assume you find
yourself in the predicted pathof a category four or category
five hurricane.
Do you board everything up andhonker down, or do you pack up
the car uh and get out?
Daniel Teper (31:51):
Are you talking about personal or for the
company?
Personal.
Um I've been through hurricanesin the past, being in Miami.
And um I I would say stay here.
There are risks everywhere inthe world.
There are risk in California,there's even risk in New York
City that uh you know water wesubmerge Manhattan.
Ben Comer (32:14):
Right.
Daniel Teper (32:15):
Uh there's unfortunately, you know, risks
of war.
Uh so I don't think there'smore risk in Miami than any
other place.
Ben Comer (32:23):
All right, we're two for two on stay in town and
hunker down during thehurricane.
Uh, thank you so much forspeaking with me, Daniel.
Uh, we've been speaking withDaniel Tepper, founder and CEO
at Naya Therapeutics.
I'm Ben Comer, and you've justlistened to the Business of
Biotech.
Find us and subscribe anywhereyou listen to podcasts, and be
sure to check out our new weeklyvideo cast of these
(32:45):
conversations every Monday underthe Business of Biotech tab at
lifescienceleader.com.
We'll see you next week, andthanks as always for listening.
Daniel Teper (32:54):
Thank you, Ben.
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