Lars van der Veen, iOnctura

After nearly two decades in big pharma, Lars van der Veen made the leap to entrepreneurship, co-founding iOnctura, a clinical-stage Biotech developing low-disruption therapies that target the tumour-stroma crosstalk to improve patient outcomes in cancer.

In this episode of Careers in Discovery, Lars shares his journey from medicinal chemist to Biotech CSO, the lessons he learned building a company from scratch, and why taking the leap into Biotech offered him the chance to have real impact. He also talks about the science behind iOnctura’s approach, how focusing on quality of life - not just survival - is shaping the future of oncology, and why every founder needs a plan B.