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The Life Science Rundown

The Life Science Rundown

The FDA Group 81 Episodes Sep 18, 2026

The Life Science Rundown is a podcast for professionals in the life sciences, produced by The FDA Group. It covers topics in regulatory affairs, quality assurance, and clinical research. The show discusses industry news, explores trends, and features interviews with expert guests.

Episodes

Is Your Biotech De-Risking or Just Delaying?
Is Your Biotech De-Risking or Just Delaying? Sep 18, 2026 00:34:57 What stops a promising platform from becoming an investable company? Kevin Walton, CEO of Baseimmune, has watched this from both sides, first as an investment banker and now running a 23-person biotech through a strategic pivot he led himself.He and Nick Capman get into beachhead decisions, why most preclinical teams run their experiments in the wrong order, how to keep a distributed team aligned
Reg Ops Has Been Kept in a Box. This Is the Way Out.
Reg Ops Has Been Kept in a Box. This Is the Way Out. Sep 14, 2026 00:24:00 As the FDA takes its first steps toward receiving clinical data in real time, what happens to regulatory operations professionals? Carla Griffin, CEO of The Sugar Water Operations Team, argues that reg ops has been kept in too small a box for years and that this shift is the opening to change that.Carla and Nick Capman get into why the hardest adjustment is professional rather than technical, how
QA Is Not a Gate — It’s a Technical Partner, with Dr. Andrea Bell
QA Is Not a Gate — It’s a Technical Partner, with Dr. Andrea Bell Sep 1, 2026 00:28:11 How do biotech companies move QA from late-stage gatekeeper into an early, risk-appropriate technical partner? Dr. Andrea Bell, a VP and Global Head of Quality Assurance, breaks down what phase-appropriate quality looks like across the lifecycle and why the barriers to getting there are cultural rather than procedural.Andrea and Nick get into the real cost of late QA involvement, how risk-based ri
Managing AI Risk Across Global Quality Systems
Managing AI Risk Across Global Quality Systems Aug 17, 2026 00:32:07 How do you manage AI risk across global quality systems while the tools change every week? Julio Salwen, SVP and Chief Quality Officer at MiniMed, brings 35 years in pharma, devices, and diagnostics to a conversation about governance, risk tolerance, and what quality leaders need to learn right now.Julio and Nick get into why building for the auditor is the wrong instinct, how to introduce AI wher
The Case for Engaging Regulatory Early
The Case for Engaging Regulatory Early Aug 13, 2026 00:22:15 Most companies bring in regulatory expertise when they're ready to file. Leland Keyt, VP of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at Apreo Health, makes the case that by then you've already absorbed costs you didn't need to, and explains what early regulatory partnership actually looks like in practice.Leland and Nick get into why risk tolerance is the thing that catches scaling com
Why Quality and R&D Default to Conflict (and How to Fix It)
Why Quality and R&D Default to Conflict (and How to Fix It) Aug 6, 2026 00:30:29 Why do quality and R&D fall into adversarial roles even when both are working toward patient safety? Shawn Fuller, who spent 24 years at Surmodics and rose from regulatory manager to VP of Quality, Regulatory and Clinical Affairs, is candid about how both sides create the problem and what it takes to break the pattern.Shawn and Nick get into the learned behavior behind the roadblock stereotype
Leading Through the AI Shift with ASQ's CEO Sid Bhatnagar
Leading Through the AI Shift with ASQ's CEO Sid Bhatnagar Jul 3, 2026 00:49:13 A special one for us: we sat down with Sid Bhatnagar, CEO of ASQ, the American Society for Quality. Sid is an engineer and longtime technology executive who now leads the global body at the center of the quality profession, and he brought a sharp, practical view of how AI is reshaping what leadership requires.Sid and Nick get into why AI pressure now comes from boards and investors rather than the
Why Your CAPA System Isn't Driving Improvement (and How to Fix It)
Why Your CAPA System Isn't Driving Improvement (and How to Fix It) Jun 15, 2026 00:27:51 Why do so many CAPA systems pass their metrics while the same problems keep coming back? Dan Eagles, a medical device quality VP and longtime CAPA mentor, breaks down where these systems quietly fail and how to rebuild them into tools that actually drive improvement.Dan discusses why the problem statement is where most CAPAs go wrong, how teams back-engineer root cause analysis to match a fix they
TerSera's VP of Quality on the Audit Risk Hiding Inside Your Own Procedures
TerSera's VP of Quality on the Audit Risk Hiding Inside Your Own Procedures May 18, 2026 00:30:38 Why do life science companies still scramble when an inspection is coming, even when their quality systems are solid on paper? Yeime Martich, a 25-year quality veteran, makes the case that readiness is a logistics and culture problem, not a documentation problem, and that the procedures you wrote may be creating more audit risk than you realize.Yeime discusses why "minimally compliant" i
What Auditors Are Actually Looking For — and the Psychology Behind How They Find It
What Auditors Are Actually Looking For — and the Psychology Behind How They Find It Apr 28, 2026 00:19:30 Why do audits still trigger panic even at companies with strong quality systems? Sneha Saggurthi — a quality compliance manager and lead auditor in cell therapy — breaks down the gap between being compliant and being audit ready, and shares the psychology, patterns, and logistics that actually determine inspection outcomes.Sneha discusses how auditors think and prioritize, why logistics matter mor
Why Kidney Disease Innovation Is a Tale of Two Cities — and What It Would Take to Change That
Why Kidney Disease Innovation Is a Tale of Two Cities — and What It Would Take to Change That Apr 10, 2026 00:35:12 Why are there over 400 phase three oncology programs but only one in dialysis? John Butler, who has spent over 30 years in the kidney disease space, breaks down the regulatory and reimbursement dynamics that have created a surge of innovation in rare kidney diseases while leaving dialysis patients behind, and what it would take to change that.John discusses how FDA clarity on endpoints transformed
Syncing Global Regulatory Filings Across FDA, EMA, and PMDA with AJ Acker
Syncing Global Regulatory Filings Across FDA, EMA, and PMDA with AJ Acker Mar 30, 2026 00:28:53 What does it actually take to navigate global regulatory filings across the FDA, EMA, and PMDA, and why do so many programs stumble despite technically harmonized dossiers? AJ Acker draws on about 30 years of rare disease regulatory experience to break down the real differences between regions and the strategies that drive successful multi-regional approvals.AJ discusses why ICH compliance doesn&#

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