Mintz On Air

Client Corner: Meet Syntis Bio Co-founder and CEO Rahul Dhanda

Our Client Corner: Perspectives from Founders, Financiers, and Friends podcast series hosted by Mintz Member Joshua Fox explores the dynamics of starting and running a business, investing in a business, and helping to support a business — through insights shared by entrepreneurs, investors, and members of the start-up community. We hope these conversations will provide valuable advice to you, the listener, as you’re working to successfully build your own business, as well as inspire others who are thinking about starting a new venture.

In this episode of Client Corner, Josh chats with Rahul Dhanda, co-founder and CEO of Syntis Bio, a preclinical company developing a new class of therapy. Prior to founding Syntis, Rahul was a founder and the president and chief executive officer of Sherlock Biosciences, where he also served on the company's Board of Directors. Rahul is also a founder and Chair of BLASTID, Inc.

Earlier in his career, Rahul spent 10 years at T2 Biosystems, helping grow the company from an early-stage, venture-backed start-up to a commercial, publicly traded leader in infectious disease diagnostics. He also worked in Boston Scientific’s urology division, leading a team responsible for over $100 million in annual revenue. In addition, while serving in a business development role at Interleukin Genetics, Rahul helped lead the negotiation of the firm’s acquisition by Alticor, Inc. and several other corporate value–creating deals.

Rahul earned his MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management and his BA from Wesleyan University. He is a former committee member of the AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility, an inventor of numerous patents, and author of several publications — including Guiding Icarus: Merging Bioethics with Corporate Interests, the first book to address the crossroads between industry and bioethics/public policy.

Client Corner: Meet Biotech Executive John Edwards

Our Client Corner: Perspectives from Founders, Financiers, and Friends podcast series hosted by Mintz Member Joshua Fox explores the dynamics of starting and running a business, investing in a business, and helping to support a business — through insights shared by entrepreneurs, investors, and members of the start-up community. We hope these conversations will provide valuable advice to you, the listener, as you’re working to successfully build your own business, as well as inspire others who are thinking about starting a new venture.

In this episode of Client Corner, Josh chats with John Edwards, an executive chair, board member, and senior adviser to start-up and clinical-stage biotechnology companies.

John will draw insights from his experience in key industry roles:

• Recently, CEO of Abcuro and Verseau Therapeutics, Inc.
• Executive Chair at Tilos Therapeutics, where, in less than two years, he helped advance the company from its formation to its acquisition by Merck
• Executive Chair of F-star, at which he helped grow the company from the discovery stage to a leading developer of clinical-stage bispecific antibodies which included bringing in more than $200 million in revenue from business development deals
• Pivotal roles in building Siamab and Exonics, which both had successful M&A exits in 2019
• Chief Operating Officer at Adnexus, a tenure that included taking the company from the start-up period through a $450 million acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb, serving as President of Adnexus, and working within BMS’s R&D organization during the early days of immuno-oncology
• Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Medical Affairs at Transkaryotic Therapies
• A 15-year tenure with Genetics Institute/Wyeth, where he was responsible for leading the company’s first product from research to FDA and EMA approvals
• One of the first employees at Genzyme

Client Corner: Ridhi Tariyal, Co-founder & CEO of NextGen Jane

Our Client Corner: Perspectives from Founders, Financiers, and Friends podcast series hosted by Mintz Member Joshua Fox explores the dynamics of starting and running a business, investing in a business, and helping to support a business — through insights shared by entrepreneurs, investors, and members of the start-up community. We hope these conversations will provide valuable advice to you, the listener, as you’re working to successfully build your own business, as well as inspire others who are thinking about starting a new venture.

In this episode of Client Corner, Josh chats with Ridhi Tariyal, co-founder and CEO of NextGen Jane, a company that is defining the next generation of obstetric and gynecological health. Before founding NextGen Jane, Ridhi led the operations and finances of a $10 million genomic endeavor in West Africa for the Broad Institute. Most of Ridhi’s career has been in health care, from operational roles in a big pharmaceutical company (Bristol-Myers Squibb) to strategic positions at smaller entrepreneurial organizations (like Embrace).

Client Corner: Jerry Williamson, CEO of Sengenics

Welcome to Client Corner: Perspectives from Founders, Financiers, and Friends, a new Mintz On Air podcast series hosted by Mintz Member Joshua Fox that explores the dynamics of starting and running a business, investing in a business, and helping to support a business — through insights shared by entrepreneurs, investors, and members of the start-up community. We hope these conversations will provide valuable advice to you, the listener, as you’re working to successfully build your own business, as well as inspire others who are thinking about starting a new venture.

In this episode of Client Corner, Joshua Fox chats with Jerry Williamson, CEO of Sengenics. Jerry has more than 30 years of experience in bioscience markets for life science research, diagnostics, and analytical products. Prior to Sengenics, Jerry was the CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of NanoView Biosciences. Prior to that, Jerry was President, CEO, and a director of Kew, Inc. and held senior positions at Metamark Genetics, Flagship Ventures, Molecular Devices (Danaher), Biacore (GE), and Pyrosequencing (QIAGEN).

Health Law Diagnosed: CA Proposes Regs for Pre-Closing Review of Health Care Deals: What You Need to Know

California’s newly established Office of Health Care Affordability recently proposed regulations outlining its requirements for advance regulatory review of certain health care entity mergers, acquisitions, affiliations, and other arrangements that result in “material changes” of assets, control, or governance. Health Law attorneys Lara D. Compton, Deborah A. Daccord, and M. Daria Niewenhous join Bridgette Keller to discuss the proposed regulations, their potential impact on transactions, and what health care entities should consider as they prepare for transactions moving forward.

Exclusive Rights: Intellectual Property - SEPs at the ITC – Are SEP Litigants and the Commission Speaking the Same “Love Language?”

In this episode of the EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS: Intellectual Property podcast, IP Members Daniel Weinger and Jonathan Engler discuss how the US International Trade Commission (ITC) evaluates standard essential patents (SEPs) that are litigated in this forum. They also provide useful context on the perspective of the ITC as it relates to the greater trade infrastructure.

Dan and Jonathan discuss these topics and more:

- How the US Trade Representative’s veto of the Samsung-Apple 794 decision affects ITC cases today, and what has changed
- Whether or not owners (or implementers) of SEPs should be fearful of a case brought against them at the ITC
- How ITC complaints can be structured to address SEP issues early on
- The future of SEP cases at the ITC: which industries will start utilizing this forum next?

Exclusive Rights: Intellectual Property - Bad Dog? “Bad Spaniels” at SCOTUS

In this episode of the EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS: Intellectual Property podcast, IP Members Daniel Weinger and Karen Won discuss the recent Supreme Court decision in Jack Daniels v. VIP Products addressing whether the “Bad Spaniels” dog chew toy violates the Lanham Act for trademark infringement. In this case, SCOTUS held that the Rogers test for parody does not apply when a trademark is used as a source identifier, which occurred here, and sent the case back down for further proceedings to analyze the “likelihood of confusion” test.

Dan and Karen discuss this outcome and also cover:
- How and when to assess parody
- Surveys in trademark cases in light of the Sotomayor concurrence
- How the decision affects brands going forward

Exclusive Rights: Intellectual Property - The Vulnerable Icon: Prince, Warhol, and the Supreme Court’s Latest on Copyright Law

In this episode of the EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS: Intellectual Property podcast, Drew DeVoogd and Michael Graif discuss the recent Supreme Court decision in Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith, which held that Warhol’s Orange Prince silkscreen portrait did not constitute fair use of a copyrighted photograph of the music legend.

Among other topics, Drew and Michael cover:
- Commercially used visual art and the fair use defense to copyright infringement
- The line between derivative and transformative works of art
- The terse concurrence and vigorous dissent issued with the opinion
- How this case may affect creators, their counsel, and the lower courts