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Dr. Theresa Heah has spent her entire career moving ophthalmologic science forward. Today, as CEO of the “non-viral gene therapy” company Intergalactic Therapeutics, she’s pursuing a lofty mission to not just “cure blindness” but transform medicine along the way. And Heah is confident that Intergalactic has “cracked the code to advance a potentially safer, more effective, more versatile gene therapy to patients.”

“I truly believe that … we are going to cure blindness, whether in my generation (or) in the next,” Heah said. “Gene therapy is the future of ophthalmology and the future of medicine.”

In March this year, Intergalactic announced its lead program — IG-002 — showed efficacy as a single payload in addressing ABCA4-related retinopathies for the first time.

“Our proprietary integrated platform comprises three core pillars to bring non-local, non-viral gene therapy into reality and transform treatment paradigms,” Heah said. “We use a versatile programmable non-viral gene therapy technology called C3DNA, which stands for covalently closed and circular DNA. And we use a precise tunable system for local delivery called COMET to electro-transfer delivery to enable these non-viral DNA applications. We recently demonstrated an in vivo proof-of-concept (study) in pigs, a 12-month durable, persistent expression of human ABCA4 with our C3DNA technology.”

Competitive by nature, Heah remarked that upon taking the top role at Intergalactic Therapeutics in January 2023, people said the “world is not enough” for her and that of course she had to “go intergalactic.”

“Joking aside, (Intergalactic) is the brainchild of our venture capital firm, Apple Tree Partners, and my founding CEO, Mike Ellis, who is a fantastic scientist. He built this company to make non-viral gene therapy a reality,” she said.

After experiencing the death of her father at the age of 5, Heah knew she was destined to pursue a career in medicine.

“I come from a very humble family, humble beginnings in Malaysia,” she said. “My father had an unexpected myocardial infarction in his late 40s. At that time in Malaysia, the medical innovation, the science wasn’t there. (But) if the innovation and science was there, perhaps my father could have been treated. I used to tell my friends, my teachers that I will become a doctor one day. And some people said, ‘That’s great, that’s really a great ambition.’ And some people would say, ‘Wow, that’s really far-fetched.’ I think that really spurred me on because I’ve always been laser-focused on where I want to be and how I was going to get there.”

Over the course of her career, she has amassed considerable drug development and commercial experience, leading projects from discovery to launch, in start-up, small, medium and big pharma companies. Part of her success, she said, is her ability to communicate.

“When I was launching Eylea, which is an anti-VEGF or anti-angiogenic drug in neovascular AMD, DME, etc., it was important to tell the story, it was important to really understand different audiences, different stakeholders,” she said. “(I learned) how to communicate effectively with patients, with key thought leaders, with peers, with investors — how to make it easy so that they understand.”

As she settles into her new role, Heah details in this WoW episode what’s next for the three-year old company, why it’s important to push boundaries and how she uses “brains, heart and soul” builds high-performing teams.

Welcome to WoW, the Woman of the Week podcast by PharmaVoice, powered by Industry Dive.

In this episode, Taren Grom, editor-in-chief emeritus at PharmaVoice meets with Dr. Theresa Heah, CEO, Intergalactic Therapeutics.

Taren: Dr. Heah, welcome to the WoW podcast program.

Theresa: Really honored to be here today.

Taren: You joined Intergalactic Therapeutics just three months ago as CEO. What have these first couple of months been like for you?

Theresa: It has been amazing to be honored here as the CEO of Intergalactic Therapeutics. It’s just been amazing to see the science, the people, and to really shape the business.

Taren: So, what was your first order of business when you walked in the door?

Theresa: First thing I did was listen, learn, better understand the culture, and then communicate. So that was my first line of business. And I did an offsite with my leadership team to get to know each other and really build trust and respect for each other.

Taren: What did you uncover in terms of the culture of Intergalactic? What makes it unique?

Theresa: What makes it unique is people are really curious, courageous, collaborative, it really speaks to the values of the company and really resonated with me. So that really was just tremendous to see and where I can then build upon in terms of the culture of the company.

Taren: Wonderful. And is this your first CEO role?

Theresa: Yes, this is my first CEO role. However, my years of experience have really taken me to this point as a CEO.

Taren: So, let’s talk about some of that experience. So, tell me, what are some of those lessons learned that you’re going to bring forward to in this new role?

Theresa: I’ve learned that it is important to really engage with your team members to really understand the business, to really understand the science, to build a high-performing team and empower them to really bring the science forward for patients.

Taren: And how are you going to make this role your own? How are you going to put your imprint on the organization?

Theresa: I will ensure that it’s a fun place, right? Drug development is not for the fainthearted. There’s going to be a roller coaster ride, as I always tell my team. However, you got to think of the bigger picture, is to build a company and bringing drugs, medicine, transforming medicine for patients. So that’s how I’m going to build this company and make it my own, and really lead by example for other people who are trying to be or are striving to be like me in the future.

Taren: Excellent. And Intergalactic, that’s an interesting name for the company. Do you have any background in how the company came to be named that?

Theresa: A lot of people have said to me, ‘Theresa, the world is not enough for you; you have to go beyond the world into Intergalactic.’ Joking aside, I think this is really the brainchild of our venture capital firm, Apple Tree Partners, and my founding CEO, Mike Ellis, who is a fantastic scientist. And he had built this company, really trying to make non-viral gene therapy a reality, hence the name Intergalactic Therapeutics.

Taren: I love that, and the world is not enough. That’s fantastic. So, let’s dig into a little bit about your background, if you don’t mind. What led you to the field of medicine?

Theresa: I’ve told this story many times. I come from a very humble family, humble beginning in Malaysia. My father had an unexpected myocardial infarction or heart attack in his late 40s, and I was 5 years old, family of five, I was five years old, the youngest, that really created an impact. I guess, it’s an experience that kind of spurred me into medicine. And I knew very, very early on, when I was 6, 7 years old, that I wanted to be a doctor. And I felt that at that time in Malaysia, the medical innovation, the science wasn’t there. And partly, if innovation and science was there, perhaps my father could have been treated. So that really spurred me into medicine.

Taren: It’s a very powerful story. And to be 6 or 7, to understand and know where you want to go in your life, that’s pretty amazing. Was your family daunted by your aspirations?

Theresa: Certainly. My mother finished high school. She never went to college. She was a single mother when my father died. There were five of us, and so she instilled the importance of education. That was number one. Number two was humble, being humble and being respectful was a big thing for her. And from young, I used to tell my friends, my teachers that I will become doctor one day. And some people say, ‘that’s great, that’s really a great ambition.’ And some people would say, ‘wow, that’s really far-fetched.’ So, I think that really spurred me on because I’ve always been laser-focused on where I want to be and how I was going to get there.

Taren: And what obstacles– I am going to make a terrible assumption here, but were there are a lot of role models for you to look at when you were growing up in Malaysia to see women doctors and say, ‘hey, that’s somebody I can learn from,’ or were you really striking out on your own?

Theresa: There was no role model. At that time, most of the doctors were male in Malaysia. I couldn’t even think of one woman doctor that I knew, but I was more into how could I get out of Malaysia, how could I get a high education in the UK, in the United Kingdom, because I don’t know if you’re aware, Malaysia was a colony country from the British colony, and it is part of the Commonwealth country. So, a lot of people in Malaysia have high ambitions of going to England to the United Kingdom to have an education. So that was something that I was so focused on.

But role models, I think, came along– it started, of course, from my late mother, who instilled that in me and my siblings on education, but definitely, mentors, when I went to the United Kingdom to London, specifically, that was when I started having fantastic mentors up until now, so mentors, both males and females, and reverse mentors.

Taren: Do you mind if I ask you, you said your mother had passed. Did she get to see you achieve your goal of becoming a doctor?

Theresa: Yes, she did. She did. She was with me when I graduated from medical school and became an ophthalmologist, but she had a stroke and was bedridden. So, she did not truly see me in the industry – in the biotech pharmaceutical industry.

Taren: Well, I’m sorry to hear that, but I’m glad she got to see the first part of it in any of…

Theresa: Correct.

Taren: So, I understand the drive to become a physician, but why the focus on ophthalmology?

Theresa: It was serendipitous. I didn’t plan to be an ophthalmologist. I’ve always wanted to be a doctor, specifically in the surgical specialty. I was very good with hand/eye coordination, proprioception, very good with my hands and I was intrigued by anatomy. So, when I was in med school, the focus was always for me within anatomy, and my training started in actually surgery. I was a neurosurgical resident in London, England, and I stumbled upon ophthalmology, while referring a patient to the ophthalmology department for a consult.

And while doing that, I met the grandfather of medical retina, I would say, in the UK called Professor Alan Burt. And he taught me– I mean, just having a conversation with him, I realized that ophthalmology was a combination of medicine and microsurgery. And I was completely intrigued. And that was how I went into ophthalmology and absolutely loved it. And it has been my mission to transform medicine, and more importantly, cure blindness.

Taren: It’s an amazing ambition. And you’re right, it is that combination of what you love, which is that surgery plus the medicine part. It makes it very unique within the industry, I think. I can’t think of another field that’s quite like ophthalmology.

Theresa: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. The impact that you have improving patient’s quality of life, the day-to-day to be able to see colors, to be able to navigate obstacles on the roads, on the streets, and also your mental health. Vision really helps you with everything.

Theresa: Absolutely. You’ve had a number of executive level roles. So, let’s dig into a little bit of some of those key highlights. Do you mind talking to me about some of the things that stand out to you? I know you were the chief medical officer and president at Kriya Ophthalmology, and then you were the CMO and EVP of Operations over at AsclepiX. Tell me about some of those roles.

Theresa: Yeah. My career has always been… I’ve had over two decades of drug development and commercial experience, leading projects from development all the way to approval and launches. And I started my career in a junior role with increasing responsibility. So, when I was offered the role to be chief Medical Officer and Executive VP of Operations at AsclepiX Therapeutics, which is a Johns Hopkins company, I was ready to take on a role that combined my experience from a small, medium, and big pharmaceutical experience into a startup.

And so that role, it was a three-people company including myself. It was a spinoff when Johns Hopkins. The company had seed funding, pre-Series A. I was willing to take the risk because I believe in the science. I was impressed by the vision of the scientific founders and also the work that they’ve done. And that role really helped me understand business better. So, it was the merging of business and science, being responsible raising Series A financing, building a team, taking the lead program into clinical stage. I was completely ready for that.

And I was doing that during the COVID pandemic. And it was a really great experience for me and really prepared me for my role today, to be honest, and also prepared me for the next role, which is being the president and chief medical officer at Kriya Therapeutics, a fully integrated AAV gene therapy company, to really build a whole ophthalmology portfolio support, a Series C financing last year, and really helped me navigate investors board, bringing talents, understanding regulatory path. And I’ve been there, done it so it made it very easy for me to be doing what I’m doing in the last two roles.

Taren: I’ll tell you it sounds like you ticked off a lot of boxes there. Did you have to do anything in particular to prepare for getting ready for investors? Did you have to learn any new skills? Or did that come naturally to you?

Theresa: It was over the years of experience that I’ve learned to communicate. And for me, it’s really important to communicate effectively. And as an early part of our conversation today, I came from Malaysia. English is not my first language. I learned English, and I went to the UK to learn English and it doesn’t come naturally in terms of communicating effectively. But over the years being in med school, communicating with patients, understanding their point of view really helped me.

But certainly, going into bigger roles, when I was launching Eylea, which is an anti-VEGF or anti-angiogenic drug in neovascular AMD, DME, et cetera, it was important to tell the story, it was important to really understand different audiences, different stakeholders, what is it that you’re trying to communicate. Is it how to communicate effectively for patients, how to communicate effectively with key thought leaders, with your peers, with investors, how to make it easy so that they understand.

And certainly, at my time at every pharmaceutical, it was a public listed company, being exposed talking to analysts, being exposed talking to a public board, explaining, telling a story, being effective is really important.

So. when I joined Intergalactic Therapeutics, as I mentioned earlier, I listened, I learned, I build trust and respect, but also at the same time, make sure I build a story around Intergalactic with all the information that we have. And that’s really important.

Taren: Thank you so much for sharing that. I appreciate those insights. So, let’s talk about Intergalactic and what excites you about the company’s pipeline.

Theresa: The science is tremendous. While gene therapy has shown tremendous potential and has produced approved products that have helped many patients, the development of new gene therapies has been challenging due to safety issues, technical obstacles, and manufacturing cost challenges. Intergalactic was formed to overcome these limitations of viral-based gene therapy and really develop a best-in-class non-viral alternative. So, our proprietary integrated platform, really comprises of three core pillars to bring non-local, non-viral gene therapy into reality and transform treatment paradigms. We use a versatile programmable non-viral gene therapy technology called C3DNA, which stands for covalently closed and circular DNA. And we use a precise tunable system for local delivery called COMET to electro-transfer delivery to enable these non-viral DNA applications.

And so, the pipeline is really focusing on ophthalmology. And we believe that our fully integrated platform really brings significant potential benefits for patient safety and efficacy. And the pipeline, the first lead program is really in ABCA4 associated retinopathy. So, the first thing we like to do is really demonstrating our potential versus viral-based delivery gene therapy. Secondly, using our technology to demonstrate superiority over viral-based gene therapy certainly to go after more common prevalent ophthalmology diseases. So that is our pipeline.

We’ve done a lot of work. So, the company is a three-year-old company. The first 18 months of the company was really doing a lot of early discovery, well, in multiple target tissues. We went out to seven therapeutic area. However, in the last 18 months, the company, due to multiple factors, due to data being available, due to the eye being a unique organ that really has a high unmet need that we can address, ophthalmology became the focus. The other therapeutic area has brought applicability. However, we are partnering that out, and being company outsized biotech, we want to be really focused, execute well, initially not merging.

Taren: It’s fascinating. I love to hear about this breakthrough science. And obviously, vision is so important because anybody who has a disease of the eye, they lose their sight, like every day, it diminishes. So, what you’re doing is so important to stop the loss of vision. Anything coming down the pipe that we should know about anytime soon?

Theresa: Yes, certainly. We have recently demonstrated an in vivo proof-of-concept in large animal, in the pigs or the porcine, where we demonstrated 12 months durable, persistent expression of human ABCA4 with our C3DNA technology where we’re demonstrating or cracked the code to advance a potentially safer, more effective, more versatile gene therapy to patients.

Taren: It’s exciting. And you’re going to be releasing this news coming up, yes?

Theresa: Yes.

Taren: Awesome. Let’s dig in a little bit more to about gene therapy and how it is impacting the entire field of ophthalmology. Is this where you see the future of this category going?

Theresa: Yes. So, I have firsthand experience of developing ophthalmology drugs from small molecules to biologics, and now to gene therapy. So, my experience had been taking Ozurdex steroid (dexamethasone) bio-erodible implant to approval when I was in Allergan, Eylea, biologic, when I was at Bayer in partnership with Regeneron, and then Rhopressa and Rocklatan when I was at Aerie, which is a topical rho kinase inhibitor.

Gene therapy really has the potential to reduce treatment burden for patients. There are multiple approaches that gene therapy can do where other treatment modalities can’t, for example, gene replacement. So that is where I see a major role of gene therapy, and secondly, to create a biofactory so vectorizing, for example, antibody for an ophthalmology condition. So, gene therapy is the future of ophthalmology and future of medicine.

Taren: Fascinating. So, as you go forward with your pipeline, what is the biggest question you receive from investors or the investor community? What are they asking about?

Theresa: They are asking about the timelines. What is the probability of success in terms of curing blindness? When can we see data? And more importantly, how accessible is this for patients in terms of costs, versatility, effectiveness? So those are the questions that are in people’s mind because drug development in general is challenging, has been challenging in the ophthalmology space as well. So, questions that typically come up from potential investors include what’s the likelihood or the probability of success in your particular technology or program.

Taren: And how do you answer them?

Theresa: We are guided by data. And ultimately, we are developing drugs to help inform transferability to clinic, and firstly, ensuring safety, secondly, getting to efficacy for patients. So, we are going to be guided by data and moving the programs forward.

Taren: Do you envision a day where you and your peers will really truly be able to cure blindness?

Theresa: Certainly. I truly believe that. And I think we are going to cure blindness, whether in my generation, whether in the next generation. There’s been such tremendous improvement in the last two decades in my time in my ophthalmology career and in the industry. When I was in training for ophthalmology, we used to send patients to low vision clinics to get their magnifiers, and more importantly, sometimes disappointingly, we’ll tell patients to come back for just follow-ups, six monthly, annually and at that time, we had no solutions. And look at what all these medications have done. It has really changed the life of patients, patients can see. And I think we are making great strides in innovation and bringing cures to patients.

Taren: I love your aspirational inspiration. That’s amazing. To think that people could be cured of blindness in the next generation or two is quite amazing. Thank you for giving all of those folks and all of us hope for a better future to come. I’m going to turn the attention to and I’m going to ask you to come out of your bubble a little bit and not be so humble. In 2022, Women We Admire named you to its list of influencers. What did this recognition mean to you?

Theresa: I was really surprised, and at the same time, really honored to be named as one of the many influencers and to be with a list of other women. Just having that recognition was really humbling.

Taren: You’re sitting in a position now of influence and power. Do you consider yourself to be a role model?

Theresa: I certainly would like to think I’m leading by example.

Taren: And how do you inspire that next generation of scientists of women who are coming up the ranks? Acting as a role model is great and leading by example is wonderful. Do they turn to you for advice? Do they ask you and say, “Hey, where do I go from here?”

Theresa: Yes, I do. And I get phone calls, LinkedIn messages, emails from people I don’t know or people I know who have reached out for help. And I’ve been very, very fortunate where I have fantastic great role models, mentors who have helped me get where I am, or challenged me too, helped me, supported me, and challenged me. And I’ve always taken or try to be available for anybody and everybody asking for advice because I think it’s really important to be able to help and it’s important to engage, important to help educate in terms of sharing my experiences, my journey. It’s never a cookie cutter, right? Everybody has a different experience, a different journey, but I hope my journey will help others.

And then the last part is really empowering to help empower others, especially women in science. It’s amazing to see how the field is still taking a longer time to embrace women. So, I think it’s important to help raise others.

Taren: Excellent. And thank you for that. And thank you for being so generous with your time to others. You mentioned a minute ago about some mentors, and perhaps, sponsors who helped guide you through your professional life. Did they provide you with any advice that you have taken on through your career?

Theresa: I have one major advice is to push the boundaries, not to be set on what you know. In other words, don’t question yourself, just go for it.

Taren: Sometimes that’s risky, though. So where do you find the courage to push those boundaries and take those calculated risks? You think that’s inherent in you? Or is that something you have to reach outside of yourself to do?

Theresa: It’s a combination of being courageous, being bold, and the inner voice in you questioning yourself, can you do this? But at the same time, I’ve always been very laser-focused on what the bigger vision where I like to be, how I like to represent myself, and be myself, be authentic. So, it’s really being yourself and being comfortable. And there are moments that perhaps you’re not comfortable, but it’s important to really have a support system and surrounding yourself with mentors, sponsors, reverse mentors to really kind of get yourself to what’s there.

Taren: Wonderful. And Theresa, you mentioned earlier about high-performing teams. Throughout your career, you have, no doubt, built many high-performing teams. What’s the secret to your success? What do you look for in team members?

Theresa: I look for team members that has great brains, good heart, great soul. Because if someone who has a heart– brains are… we all go to school learning technical expertise. So, when you build a team, you have specific technical expertise that you need. Great heart, someone who has a heart who respects people, respect each other. You can agree to disagree, but you have to respect each other, and you have to really understand from an emotional quotient perspective or emotional intelligent perspective. So, people who have great soul have fun doing it, despite how challenging it is, to have the right energy, the right mindset, the agility, the dynamic. And that’s what you need in biotech, in pharmaceutical because it’s challenging. You can have fun doing it. So, brains, heart, and soul.

Taren: I love that brains, heart, and soul. That’s fantastic. You had noted earlier that the biotech world is a bit of a roller coaster. So, you have to be up for the ride, right? What is one thing most people don’t know about you?

Theresa: That I don’t give up.

Taren: I think they know that. I think it’s pretty apparent to everybody.

Theresa: I guess, I love to win. I’m pretty competitive with myself. And so that’s really, I guess, the one, yeah, I guess people don’t really know that because when they meet me, they see kind of a– I guess it’s a perception, as Asian women may be more on the kind of polite, docile perception that people have.

Taren: They don’t know about your inner tiger. Is that what you’re saying?

Theresa: {laughs} Yeah, I guess so.

Taren: That’s amazing. Thank you for sharing that. You’ve shared so many great stories with us and you are a good storyteller, and you have such personal insights that have led you through such a successful career. I’m going to challenge you now to identify a wow moment that either changed the trajectory of your career or has left a lasting impression on you.

Theresa: Yeah, I had this mentor that really changed the trajectory of my career. And I’ll always be grateful to her for giving me her time and really kind of challenging me and guiding me from that. And that really changed the whole trajectory of my career.

Taren: Can you go in a little more detail? What specifically did she do for you?

Theresa: I was introduced to her. I don’t know her. I’ve never worked for her. I was going through a tough time at work, wasn’t sure which direction to head towards, what role to take on, how to navigate the bureaucracy of the company, the investors, the board of directors. And her advice was, “Theresa, remember, this is just a job, and as long as you don’t take it personally, be comfortable being uncomfortable.” And that really resonated immediately where she’s right, it’s just a job. Don’t take it personally. Everybody has a very different viewpoint, and just express yourself and don’t walk on eggshells, be authentic.

Taren: That’s great advice that we can all take something from, to remember not to take it personally. It is just a job, but what you’re doing is so important that for you, I think, it’s also a calling. So, I would like to thank you very much for being part of our WoW podcast program. I want to wish you and Intergalactic continued great success. And we look forward to the day when you and your peers actually do cure blindness, an amazing aspirational goal. Theresa, thank you so much for being with us.

Theresa: Thank you, and remember, the eyes are the window to your soul.

Thanks for listening to this episode of WoW, the Woman of the Week podcast. For more WoW episodes, visit pharmavoice.com.