AZ Bio Week & Life Sciences Innovation + Best of Biotech w/ Joan Koerber-Walker - AZ TRT S06 EP19 (281) 10-12-2025

 

AZ Bio Week

& Life Sciences Innovation w/ Joan Koerber-Walker

- AZ TRT S06 EP19 (281) 10-12-2025

 

Things We Learned This Week

• AZ Bio mission to improve life and bioscience, & make AZ a Top Ten Bioscience state
• AZ Bio Week 2025 - Oct. - 5 Days Talks, Events & Awards
• AZ Advances - nonprofit donation to biotech startups
• Aqualung Therapeutics is treating inflammation in the lungs, get people off ventilators & save lives
• Calviri is working on a Vaccine to PREVENT Cancer, currently largest animal clinical trial
• Anuncia Medical has a Re-Flow product to help drain fluid from the brain, treats Hydrocephalus

 

 

Guest: Joan Koerber-Walker
President and CEO, AZBio - Arizona Bioindustry Association, Inc.

Chairman, Opportunity Through Entrepreneurship Foundation

 

LKIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joankoerberwalker

 www.azbio.org

Bio:

As President and CEO of AZBio, Joan Koerber-Walker works on behalf of the Arizona Bioscience and Medical Technology Industry to support the growth of the industry, its members and our community on the local and national level. Ms. Koerber-Walker is also a life science investor and has served on the boards of numerous for-profit and non-profit organizations.

In the life science industry, Ms. Koerber-Walker serves as as Arizona’s representative to the State Medical Technology Alliance (SMTA), a consortium of state and regional trade associations representing their local medical technology companies which she chaired in 2015 and  represents Arizona as a member of the Council of State Bioscience Associations (CSBA) and the Coalition of State Bioscience Institutes (CSBI).

Active in the entrepreneurial and investment communities, she also serves as Chairman of the Board of the Opportunity Through Entrepreneurship Foundation which provides entrepreneurial education, mentoring and support to at-risk members of the community, on the Board of Advisors to CellTrust, Inc. which provides secure communication technology to the healthcare industry, and as Chairman of CorePurpose, Inc. which she founded in 2002.

Ms. Koerber-Walker has been recognized as Executive of the Year by the Arizona Society of Association Executives, as a “Most Admired Leader” by the Phoenix Business Journal (2015),  in the pages of AZ Business Leaders (2013 thru 2020), Most Influential Women in Arizona Business (2014) and is a 2 time National Finalist for the Stevie Award which recognizes the work of women in business.

Her past experience includes two years as the CEO of ASBA (the Arizona Small Business Association), service as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Small Business Association in Washington D.C., President of the National Speakers Association/Arizona, Chair of the Board of Advisors to Parenting Arizona, the state’s largest child abuse prevention organization, & much more.

 

 

 

 

AZBio:  Supporting Arizona’s Life Science Industry for 19 Years (2003 – 2022)

Learn more about Arizona's bioindustry: www.azbio.org

| Facebook: AZBIO |Twitter: @AZBio @AZBioCEO

We’re part of a movement to create sustainable funding for life science innovation in Arizona.

Learn more at www.AZAdvances.org 

MOVING LIFE SCIENCE INNOVATIONS ALONG THE PATH
FROM DISCOVERY TO DEVELOPMENT TO DELIVERY

OUR VISION OF THE FUTURE: Arizona is a top-ten life science state.

OUR MISSION: AZBio supports the needs of Arizona’s growing life science ecosystem.

The Arizona Bioindustry Association (AZBio) is a not-for-profit, 501(c)6 trade association supporting the growth of Arizona’s life science sector.

AZBio  Member Organizations in the fields of business, research and education, health care delivery, economic development, government, and other professions involved in the biosciences are the key drivers of the growth of Arizona’s life science sector.  As the unified voice of our industry in Arizona, AZBio strives to make Arizona a place where bioscience organizations can grow and succeed.

 

AZBio works nationally and globally with the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), the Medical Device Manufacturers Association (MDMA), the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), and leading patient advocacy organizations.

Through these relationships, AZBio has access to information, contacts, resources, cost saving programs, and the global bioscience and medtech community.

 

Arizona’s bioscience industry is growing rapidly and reached nearly 30,000 jobs spanning 2,160 business establishments in 2018. Industry employment has grown by 15 percent since 2016—twice the growth rate of the nation—with each of the five major subsectors adding jobs during the period. Arizona’s universities conducted nearly $580 million in R&D activities in bioscience-related fields in 2018, fueled in part by steadily increasing NIH awards to Arizona institutions since 2016. Venture capital investments in Arizona bioscience companies increased in 2019, and during the 2016-19 period totaled $349 million. Arizona inventors have been awarded 2,178 bioscience-related patents since 2016, among the second quintile of states in patent activity.

 

Notes:

 

Seg 1

 

Biotech and life sciences industry in Arizona, has 3000 businesses and 36,000 employees. The economic impact in 2021 was $38.5 billion. AZ Bio would like to double, so by 2033, the impact would be $78 billion.

 

Examples of biotech companies in Arizona are Medtronic that makes medical devices, WL Gore, material sciences. Other companies in diagnostics, there are Sonoran Quest which does testing. This also Castle Bio Sciences, deals in cancer treatment. Some medicine companies are Bristol, Myers, and Calvari who deals in cancer drugs. Calvari is the bio science company of the year in 2024.

 

AZ Bio Science Week started in 2017. AZ Bio week starts Oct. 13 (2025) and has events daily from Monday to Friday.

 

 

Example of one of the many companies involved with AZ Bio week:

 

CND Life Sciences - CND’s Syn-One Test® offers physicians and patients an accurate, convenient, evidence-based tool to help diagnose a synucleinopathy. And our mission has just begun.

 

NIH - National Institute of Health gives grants or funding to universities, hospitals and even companies for medical research.

 

Takes time to build a medical device type product, a few years to decades.

 

Government is an important partner, that provides financial support. Examples are Medicare research, workforce help, and tax breaks. Many organizations like this are publicly funded with government and university help. 

$25 billion in funding over the last 20 years in Arizona in bio investment. Government funded $5 billion, that’s from state and federal sales tax at a penny per. $112 million funding to universities in 2022. Combination of industry, government and philanthropy.

Discovery phase - university helps develop the IP and research. Technology is spun out of the university to corporate development by companies. The AZ Board of Regents owns the patents. They license the patents to companies. Then you have regulatory. 

Distribution of a product. Successful products are profitable. They have a royalty that pays to the company, the university and the government. Example of this was the University of Florida created Gatorade in the 1970s and still gets royalties today.

Process takes 10 to 15 years, with hundreds of people involved. Clinical trials of any type of drug takes years.

 

Creation of the Covid vaccine was an outlier, as many people had Covid at the time so it was very easy to put together big study groups

 

 

 

Seg 2

 

Examples of newer companies in biotech field –

 

Neo clinical stage company dealing in heart health with aortic artery for the abdomen.

 

Another new company is prim dealing in MCT deficiency, compound growth and they are in clinical and testing stages.

 

Drugs get tested through computer models, and then on animals. Always have to worry about safety and ethics. FDA has very strict rules. You do not put people at risk, after monitor, during test and post monitoring. There’s high-level quality control.

 

 

 

AZ Bio has members that are in the bioscience industry with current companies

 

AZ Advances is about bio startups in early stage companies

It’s a 501 C nonprofit charity that is funding, internships, and education

 

Patient is not only the client, but the purpose for why biotech companies exist

 

 

Neuralink Corp. is an American neurotechnology company that has developed as of 2024 implantable brain–computer interfaces. It was founded by Elon Musk and a team of eight scientists and engineers. Neuralink was launched in 2016 and first publicly reported in March 2017.

 

Neuralink's first human patient, Noland Arbaugh, is an Arizona native who received his implant in January 2024 at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. He will appear at Arizona Bioscience Week 2025

 

 

https://www.azbio.org/azbw2025

 

 

Events Summary:

 

Monday - Women in Biotech

Leading Women: Biotech & Beyond

Join us for an evening of conversation and connections with our community's leading women as we kick off Arizona Bioscience Week in style!

 

Tuesday - Fundraising

Fundraising Strategies for Life Science Startups 

A compelling narrative is crucial when you are fundraising and communicating with life science investors. 

This Life Science Nation (LSN) Global Fundraising Bootcamp covers topics related to executing a successful fundraise for your startup. 

 

 

Wednesday – AZ Bio awards, philanthropy, entertainment, and AZ Advances

The 21st Annual AZBio Awards & AZAdvances After Party

Celebrate with the Educators, Researchers, and Organizations that are making life better for people in Arizona and around the world. 

Join us at the Phoenix Convention Center as we honor the 2024 AZBio Award Winners.

Hundreds of health innovators and business leaders will be celebrating at the 20th Annual AZBio Awards.

 

Thursday -  AZAdvances

 

AZ Advances Health Innovation Summit

This exclusive event will bring together health innovation leaders to share how are moving Arizona forward as we make life better for the people we serve.

 

AZ Advances:

Arizonans are advancing life changing and life saving innovations along the path from discovery to development to delivery.

AZAdvances is developing the funding that will help advance health innovations in Arizona today and for generations to come. 

Charitable donations to the AZAdvances fund at the Opportunity Through Entrepreneurship Foundation, an Arizona based 501c3 public charity, are a way to support the creation of tomorrow's medical innovations. 

 

Friday - Voice of the Patient

Patients are the reason we do what we do. 

Join the conversation on life science innovation from the patient perspective. 

 

 

 

Seg. 3

Best of AZ Bio clips:

 

AZ Bio & Life Sciences Innovation w/ Joan Koerber-Walker

- BRT S04 EP10 (172) 3-5-2023

 

Guest: Joan Koerber-Walker
President and CEO, AZBio - Arizona Bioindustry Association, Inc.

Chairman, Opportunity Through Entrepreneurship Foundation

 

Full Show: HERE

 

 

Guest: Stan Miele
President & CBO Aqualung Therapeutics Corp

LKIN: HERE

www.aqualungtherapeutics.com

 

Stan Miele Bio:

A recognized global executive with success in sales, marketing and P&L leadership in the pharmaceutical/medical device and biotech industries. Mr. Miele was formally the Chief Commercial Officer at bioLytical Laboratories and Sucampo Pharmaceuticals Inc.  He was also President of Sucampo Pharma Americas for 6 years.   He was instrumental on some key licensing agreements for Sucampo, inclusive of the agreement with Abbott Japan, and also Takeda Pharmaceuticals (now Shire).  He is actively part of the team ensuring proper execution of clinical development, manufacturing, licensing, capital funding, alliances, and ensuring Aqualung meets all critical milestones.  He will be helping the company move toward accelerating the pipeline/platform technology and moving eNamptor™ toward commercialization.

 

Aqualung Therapeutics 

Aqualung Therapeutics (ALT) is developing multi-pronged strategies to address the development of severe lung inflammation which is essential to the severity and outcomes of acute and chronic lung disorders such as acute lung injury, ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and pulmonary hypertension. Effective FDA-approved drugs are either currently unavailable or extraordinarily modest in their ability to modify disease progression. No drug is currently available that is preventive or curative. Aqualung’s strategies, which include deployment of a human monoclonal antibody which targets a novel inflammatory mediator (nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase or NAMPT) will address the unmet need for novel, effective therapies for VILI, IPF, and pulmonary hypertension.

 

Full Show: HERE

 

 

 

Seg. 4 – Clips from: 

Preventing Cancer with a Vaccine w/ Stephen Johnston of Calviri 

- BRT S04 EP17 (179) 4-23-2023

 

Guest: Stephen Johnston
Founding CEO, Calviri Inc. 

LKIN: HERE

https://calviri.com/

 

Bio:

Chief Executive Officer & Chairman of the Board

Stephen Albert Johnston is the inventor of the Calviri’s central technologies. In addition to Calviri, he has been a founder of Eliance, Inc. (Macrogenics), Synbody Biotechnology and HealthTell, Inc. He is Director of the Arizona State University Biodesign Institute’s Center for Innovations in Medicine and Professor in the School of Life Sciences. He has published almost 200 peer-reviewed papers and holds 45 patents. Prior to his appointment at ASU he was Professor and Director of the Center for Biomedical Inventions at UT-Southwestern Medical Center and Professor of Biology and Biomedical Engineering at Duke University. He is a member of the National Academy of Inventors. Dr. Johnston received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin.

 

 

Calviri Inc. 

We are determined to offer humanity a better life, free from cancer. While our goal is hugely ambitious, we are intensely driven to rid the planet of worry from cancer.

Calviri’s mission is to provide affordable products worldwide that will end deaths from cancer. We are a fully integrated healthcare company developing a broad spectrum of vaccines and companion diagnostics that prevent and treat cancer for those either at risk or diagnosed. We focus on using frameshift neoantigens derived from errors in RNA processing to provide pioneering products against cancer. The company is a spin out of the Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, located in Phoenix, AZ. We have the largest dog vaccine trial in the world underway at three premier veterinary universities. The five-year trial will assess the performance of a preventative cancer vaccine.

 

Full Show: HERE

 

 

 

ReFlow to Help Treat Hydrocephalus w/ Elsa Abruzzo & Mark Geiger of Anuncia Medical

- BRT S04 EP23 (186) 6-11-2023  

 

Guest: Elsa Chi Abruzzo

RAC, FRAPS – President

Elsa Chi Abruzzo is a medical device executive, entrepreneur, and a founding member of Anuncia, Inc., Alcyone Therapeutics, Arthromeda, Inc. and Cygnus Regulatory. Elsa has a 30+ year successful product development, operations, regulatory, quality, and clinical track record in med tech Industries. Her experience includes leadership positions at Baxter, Cordis JNJ, CryoLife, Percutaneous Valve Technologies, AtriCure, InnerPulse, Merlin MD, Sapheon, and PTS Diagnostics. Elsa earned a BS in engineering from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL and is regulatory affairs certified and a Regulatory Affairs Professional Society Fellow, recognized for her leadership in Regulatory and Quality by MDDI.

 

https://anunciamedical.com/the-anuncia-story/#team

https://www.linkedin.com/in/elsachiabruzzo/

 

https://anunciamedical.com/

About Anuncia

Conceptualized in 2014 in collaboration with Boston Children’s Hospital and spun out of Alcyone Therapeutics in 2018, Anuncia’s patented portfolio of technologies are intended to provide peace-of-mind through innovation.

Our core ReFlow™ technology uses a simple finger depression of a soft silicone dome located under the patient’s scalp to produce a noninvasive, one-way flush of the patient’s own CSF directed toward the ReFlow™ catheter to restore or increase CSF flow through a non-flowing shunt and potentially avoid emergency surgery. 

Learn More

 

 

The name Anuncia comes from Panthera Uncia, the species name of the snow leopard. These animals live in mountainous regions of Asia and have been called by the World Wildlife Foundation “Guardians of the Headwaters” as they roam the headwater areas of the western basins.

The origin of the word hydrocephalus comes from the Greek hudrokephalon, from hudro ‘water’+ kephalē ‘head’. The snow leopard, or Guardian of the Headwaters, is a symbol of Anuncia’s dedication to improve daily quality of life for the millions of underserved patients with hydrocephalus and other CSF disorders, as well as their families, who suffer from the clinical, economic, and emotional burden of repeat revision brain surgery due to VP shunt occlusions.

 

  

Full Show: HERE

 

 

 

 

 

Best of Biotech from AZ Bio & Life Sciences to Jellatech: HERE

 

Biotech Shows: HERE

 

AZ Tech Council Shows: 

https://brt-show.libsyn.com/size/5/?search=az+tech+council

*Includes Best of AZ Tech Council show from 2/12/2023

  

 

‘Best Of’ Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Best+of+BRT

 

  

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