Dr. Ned Swanson walked away from surgery residency to commercialize technology that regenerates human tissue. What started with mouse studies is now helping real patients heal wounds that traditional medicine couldn't solve.

But here's the twist: the science wasn't the hardest part.

In this episode, Dr. Ned Swanson (President & CMO at Polarity Bio) sits down with Ayush Mishra to reveal the brutal truths about building biotech, navigating healthcare's broken reimbursement systems, and separating AI signal from noise in wound care.

IN THIS EPISODE:

The Career Gamble

• Why he left surgery residency mid-training
• The moment he realized biotech could help patients faster than academia
• Grant money vs VC funding: which path offers more creative freedom
• Taking a company public while still thinking like a resident

Building Biotech: The Brutal Reality

• The #1 challenge that blindsided him (it's not what you think)
• Moving technology from mouse studies to human patients
• Navigating FDA approval processes
• Why hiring the right people is harder than everything else
• Patient stories that made the risk worth it

Healthcare's Uncomfortable Truths

• How cost and reimbursement drive medical decisions more than evidence
• The "pure medicine" illusion every resident experiences
• Why the same products are priced $100 vs $5,000 per square centimeter
• What breaks when you step outside the hospital walls

AI in Healthcare: Reality Check

• Where AI genuinely helps in wound care: imaging, monitoring, real-world evidence
• Smart boots tracking diabetic ulcers and patient compliance
• How platforms like Open Evidence are changing clinical decisions
• Why AI won't replace RCTs but will expand their impact
• The future of wound care in 5-10 years

Regenerative Medicine Explained

• How SkinTE technology actually works
• Why 95% of traditional skin grafts fail
• From lab bench to patient bedside: the real timeline
• Expanded access programs and their impact

If you work in pharma, clinical operations, wound care, or research strategy, this conversation offers a clear view of where the future of healthcare is heading.

Dr. Ned Swanson LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ned-swanson-md-9612b120/

Ayush Mishra's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayushmishra/

Watch Now on YouTube

The pharmaceutical industry doesn’t struggle with scientific innovation, it struggles with execution. Feasibility, enrollment, evidence generation, and regulatory confidence remain the biggest constraints on getting medicines to patients faster.

In this episode of The Best AI Show on Pharma, Ayush Mishra speaks with Chandi Kodthiwada, Vice President, Product Management, Komodo Health, whose work sits at the intersection of real-world data, clinical development, and AI strategy across the life sciences ecosystem.

While for more than a decade building data products for biopharma, Chandi explains why most AI initiatives stall, why clinical trial operations remain deeply inefficient, and why real-world evidence is becoming a strategic lever rather than a research afterthought. From feasibility to enrollment to post-market monitoring, we explore how data is reshaping drug development and where the industry is actually seeing ROI.

This is not a futurist conversation, it’s a grounded look at what’s working today, what still breaks, and what needs to change for AI to truly matter in biopharma. Also get ready to know some deets on the recent partnership that happened between Komodo Health and Anervea.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• Why AI pilots struggle inside pharma organizations
• Why 30% of clinical trial sites never enroll a patient
• Recent partnership that happened between Komodo Health and Anervea
• Why RWE is gaining regulatory traction beyond publications
• Why consulting isn’t going away, but the slide work is
• Why trial bottlenecks are now operational, not scientific
• Why structured context beats model complexity in real use cases
• Why execution is the new competitive edge in drug development
• Why startups need ecosystem fluency, not just technology

If you’re involved in clinical development, RWE, regulatory, digital, medical, or commercial strategy, this episode offers a clear lens into where the industry is headed, and what’s required to get there.

Connect with Ayush Mishra

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

Connect with Chandi Kotriwada

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

Watch on YouTube

https://youtu.be/XIHNrAbE5N4

Watch Now on YouTube

Clinical trials don’t fail because of bad science, they fail because the operations behind them are broken.

In this high-signal episode, Ayush Mishra sits down with Suzanne Vyvoda, a 20-year clinical operations veteran who has built teams across 40+ countries, scaled billion-dollar trials, advised CROs, biotech founders, and helped companies cut trial costs by up to 25% without compromising quality.

From the chaos inside clinical sites and the “Excel tracker economy” that still runs global trials to the quiet operational failures that delay drugs, inflate budgets, and frustrate stakeholders, Suzanne breaks down what really drives clinical trial inefficiency, and why AI alone won’t fix it.

But this isn’t a pessimistic take.
We unpack where AI is actually working, which use cases offer real ROI today, why RWE is becoming operationally strategic, and why the future of drug development won’t be about replacing people, but augmenting them.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Why clinical trials are still powered by spreadsheets and PDFs
• Why sites, CROs, and biotechs are all frustrated, and all correct
• Why tech adoption fails when it adds work instead of removing it
• Why RWE + site intelligence is the next frontier of feasibility
• How good contract design alone can cut trial costs dramatically
• Why “ecosystem fluency” is the missing skill for AI founders
• Why CROs fear tech, and why that incentive structure needs to change
• Why the right MVP solves one problem, not 27
• Why the next wave of tools must feel native to real operators

If you want a real look at how trials actually run, from budget to operations to site burden to CRO incentives, and clarity on where AI fits (and doesn’t), this episode is unmissable.

Watch till the end. Your understanding of clinical operations will change.

Connect with Ayush Mishra

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

Connect with Suzanne Vyvoda

https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzanne-vyvoda/

Watch on YouTube

https://youtu.be/dalypa2iYi0

Watch Now on YouTube