A plant from the Middle East. A laboratory in a one-stoplight town in Kansas. And a question that has now turned into years of cancer research.

I recently sat down with Jason West, co-founder of Genzada Pharmaceuticals, to hear a story that is pretty hard to believe until you hear how it unfolded.

It starts with Jason’s father, Gene, who grew up near Jerusalem and remembered a plant that had been used as a traditional remedy for more than a thousand years. Years later, as a chemist living in Kansas, he decided to figure out what was actually in it.

That curiosity turned into something much bigger than any of them expected.

They began identifying and studying compounds in the plant. Word spread around their small Kansas town. People began asking for the tea they were making and sharing their experiences. But instead of assuming those stories proved anything, the family kept digging into the science.

Today, that work has grown into Genzada Pharmaceuticals, investigational cancer drugs and human clinical research.

Jason takes us through that journey and what happens when something interesting in a lab starts showing enough promise to keep pursuing it.

We talk about the years of research most of us never see, why his team considers itself its own biggest skeptic, what they’re learning about how their investigational drug may work, the nutritional supplements developed alongside the pharmaceutical research, and what it takes to move a potential drug through clinical trials.

There is still a lot they are working to understand and a long road between promising research and an approved treatment. But that might be what makes this story so interesting.

About Jason West

Jason West is Executive Vice President and Co-Founder of Genzada Pharmaceuticals and CEO of Hyatt Life Sciences. With a background in biology and law, Jason is helping lead Genzada’s development of investigational therapies and clinical research in oncology.

Learn more:

Genzada Pharmaceuticals: genzada.com

Hyatt Life Sciences: hyattlifesciences.com

About Kristina Lowe
Kristina Lowe is the founder of Tripoint Strategic Group, where she works with businesses and organizations on strategy, marketing and growth. She is also the host of Tripoint Conversations, exploring the stories, decisions and experiences that shape how people build and lead.

To learn more or be a guest, visit:

tripointstrategicgroup.com/podcast

Tripoint Conversations is independently produced. If you’d like to help keep these conversations coming, you can support the podcast here:

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