PharmaSource Podcast

“CDMOs and Biotechs will both die,” warns NKILT Therapeutics CEO as he talks candidly about the funding crisis stalling cell therapy development, predicting widespread consolidation across biotechs and CDMOs unless the industry shifts toward risk-sharing partnership models that align manufacturing economics with capital constraints.
Raphaël Ognar, CEO and co-founder of NKILT Therapeutics, brings 29 years of pharmaceutical and biotech experience spanning marketing, drug development, and corporate strategy at major pharmaceutical companies. After launching a consulting practice focused on early-stage immuno-oncology biotechs, Raphaël co-founded NKILT Therapeutics.
NKILT’s off-the-shelf allogeneic approach (as opposed to patient-specific autologous therapies) targets HLA-G, an immunosuppressive molecule expressed across major cancer types including colorectal, breast, prostate, and kidney cancers, providing access to substantially larger patient populations while improving manufacturing scalability and economics.
His company’s 12-month IND delay exemplifies the systemic pressures that continue to threaten cell therapy innovation, and both sides of the CDMO-biotech relationship.
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"A high-level Pfizer manager went on record and said: if they had to choose between lowering prices in the US or not launching in France — they would not launch in France."
Christoffer Frendesen, EU correspondent for Dagens Pharma and former European Parliament policy advisor, raises serious concerns about a policy shock that many in Brussels are still reluctant to confront directly.
Christoffer covers health, pharma, and life sciences policy from Brussels, with over five years of experience as a policy advisor to Danish MEPs inside the European Parliament. His close proximity to both legislative process and industry reaction gives him a well-informed perspective on the real-world consequences of US drug pricing reform on European markets.
In this episode of the PharmaSource podcast, Christoffer explains why Trump's Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) executive order, signed in May 2025, is not just an American story, and why pharmaceutical executives, market access teams, and patient advocates across Europe need to be paying close attention right now.
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“The wake-up call happened during COVID — we realized our dependency on basic medicines coming from outside Europe was dangerously high.”
Elisabeth Stampa, CEO of Medichem and Vice President of Medicines for Europe, has been one of the pharmaceutical industry’s most outspoken advocates for the Critical Medicines Act (CMA). With the European Parliament having just published its position and trilogue negotiations underway, she argues the window for meaningful reform is open — but not indefinitely.
In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, Elisabeth breaks down what the CMA is designed to achieve, where the friction points lie, and what success would actually look like for European patients and the generics and biosimilar industry by 2030.
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“83% of the top 100 most prescribed generic medicines in the US have no domestic manufacturing source for their API.” — Charles Lyon, VP Manufacturing, Procurement & Logistics, API Innovation Center
And yet the capacity to produce these APIs already exists — sitting idle across US facilities operating at 50% or below.
Charles Lyon, VP of Manufacturing and Procurement at the API Innovation Center (APIIC), brings decades of experience in fine and specialty chemicals to one of the most pressing challenges in US healthcare: rebuilding domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing from the ground up. Before joining APIIC, Charlie held engineering and business leadership roles across chemical intermediates, specialty chemicals, and API production — giving him a front-row view of how the US gradually ceded control of its medicine supply to overseas producers.
In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, Charlie explains how APIIC is taking a fundamentally different approach to reshoring — one that works with existing US capacity, leverages advanced manufacturing technology, and de-risks participation for CDMOs and API manufacturers through a public-private funding model.Full article

“Managing a radiopharmaceutical supply chain is like transporting a block of ice in the middle of summer under the scorching sun in the desert—you have no means to protect it or cover it, so it just continues melting.”
Daniel Rossetto, Head & SVP of Supply Chain and External Manufacturing at ARTBIO, brings over 17 years of experience leading high-speed, agile supply networks across biotech and pharma, including senior roles at Novartis.
In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, Daniel explains why radiopharmaceutical supply chains require fundamentally different approaches than traditional pharma—and how companies are building resilience into networks where every minute counts and safety stock doesn’t exist.
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