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Approved

Alex Kesin and Matthew Pech 3 Episodes Sep 18, 2026

Life sciences, under the hood. Deep dives into the patent filings, regulatory gauntlets, and capital-risks that shape the business of biology.

Episodes

Allergan: Botox, Rogue Scientists, and the Ultimate Beauty Franchise Sep 18, 2026 12996 The wild story of how a Cold War bioweapon became Botox — and how Allergan turned a sleepy ophthalmology drug into an enduring aesthetic franchise.Every part of this story looks nothing like your normal blockbuster drug. Botox started its development storyas a Cold War bioweapon so lethal the CIA was thinking of using it on Castro. Decades later, an eye surgeon in San Francisco mortgaged

What is Approved? Sep 14, 2026 183 Approved tells the definitive stories behind the world's most interesting biotech ventures. Most people learn about the industry in a fragmented, ad hoc way-- an industry article here, a clinical trial readout there, some science twitter. In contrast, The Approved podcast tells comprehensive, definitive stories of how drugs are discovered, developed and sold. Whether we're tracking a sin

Blueprint Medicines: Chasing Gleevec to a $9B Allergy Drug Aug 4, 2026 8981 Blueprint Medicines was built to find the next Gleevec-style cancer drug. It ended up pivoting to allergic disease instead, and selling to Sanofi for $9B. This is the platform, the pivot, and who got paid.Blueprint Medicines set out to be the natural sequel to Gleevec: a company founded by two of the scientists behind that landmark cancer drug, built to order by Third Rock Ventures' "vent

Keytruda: How Merck's Pembrolizumab Became the Best-Selling Cancer Drug of All Time May 14, 2026 7656 Keytruda is Merck's $31 billion a year PD-1 inhibitor and the best-selling cancer drug of all time. In Episode 3 of Approved, Alex Kesin and Matthew Pech trace the development of pembrolizumab , featuring interviews the scientists who drove the program forward : co-inventors Gregory Carven and Michel Streuli, and former Merck oncology CMO Roy Baynes.Topics include preclinical PD1 / CTLA-4

Episode #2: Geron Mar 13, 2026 8526 Listen on SpotifyListen on Apple PodcastsListen on YouTubeTABLE OF CONTENTS(00:00:00) - Introduction (00:01:19) - Hayflick Limit (00:08:30) - Michael West & Founding of Geron (00:15:16) - Early Science & IP Strategy (00:27:25) - Cloning the Telomerase Gene (00:29:30) - Embryonic Stem Cells & Political Context (00:44:21) - Okarma, West’s Departure & Corporate Turmoil (01:05

Episode #1: Amylin Pharmaceuticals Jan 30, 2026 6388 Listen on SpotifyListen on Apple PodcastsListen on YouTubeTABLE OF CONTENTS(00:00:00) - Introduction(00:04:40) - $50 of Dried Lizard Venom(00:29:17) - Fax of Death(00:43:04) - Sleeping Beauty Awakens(00:52:07) - Carl Icahn Sends a Letter(01:09:19) - Endgame(01:13:40) - Postmortem & PlaybookCREDITSCo-hosted by Alex Kesin and Matthew Pech Written, edited, and produced by Alex KesinMusic

Approved

Episodes

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