🧬 From CFO to Founder: Building a Women's Health Biotech | Sabrina Johnson (3/4)

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"Women's health is not niche. It's half the population — I just kept asking why no one was doing this. One Saturday morning I realized: I'm somebody."

In this episode, Jon Chee continues with Sabrina Johnson, DARÉ Bioscience CEO, tracing 13 years at Cypress Bioscience — from a hallway eavesdrop that earned her an FDA panel seat, to VP of Marketing, an "interim" CFO role held for nearly a decade, and COO. She covers a fibromyalgia Phase 3 that missed at p=0.058, the disclosure gap, and a hostile takeover that forced the sale — then shares the Monday resignation and elevator pitch that led to founding DARÉ.

Key Topics Covered:

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Find our guest, Sabrina Johnson at these links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabrina-johnson-27799829/ 

Website: https://darebioscience.com/ 

Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonchee/ 

Learn more about Excedr:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/ 

Website: https://www.excedr.com 

Intro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:

Website: https://flow.page/kyojin 

Resources & Articles:

Exit Strategies in Life Sciences Venture Capital: https://www.excedr.com/blog/exit-strategies-in-life-sciences-venture-capital 

Reverse Merger Considerations for Biotech Companies: https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/services/audit-assurance/blogs/accounting-finance/reverse-merger-considerations-for-biotech-companies.html 

Funding Research on Women's Health: https://www.nature.com/articles/s44222-024-00253-7 

Savella FDA Approval for Fibromyalgia: https://www.hopkinsarthritis.org/arthritis-news/fibromyalgia-news/savella-a-new-drug-approved-for-the-treatment-of-fibromyalgia/ 

Companies, Universities, & People Mentioned:

DARÉ Bioscience: https://darebioscience.com/ 

Cypress Bioscience: https://cypress-bio.com 

WomanCare Global: https://dktwomancare.org 

Calibr-Skaggs Institute: https://calibr.scripps.edu 

Nalu Bio: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nalu-bio 

Jay Kranzler (CEO, Cypress Bioscience): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-d-kranzler-66b08b12 

Peter Schultz (President, Scripps Research): https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-schultz-ba07a8373 

Roger Hawley (First Investor, DARÉ): https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-hawley-74067618 

Caitlyn Krebs (CEO, Nalu Bio): https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlynkrebs 

00:00 Intro

02:42 Why Sabrina Left Advanced Tissue Sciences for Cypress Bioscience

05:38 The Hallway Eavesdrop and the FDA Meeting Bargain

07:17 How Jay Kranzler Opened Every Door at Cypress

08:00 Accepting the CFO Role — "Just Interim"

09:51 Why a Public Company CFO Is Really in Sales

11:23 Managing the Street: Disclosure and Investor Communication

14:19 The Fibromyalgia Phase 3 That Missed at p=0.058

18:21 Hostile Takeover Pressure and Selling Cypress

19:48 Should Biotech Startups Stay Private Longer?

21:53 The Real Annual Cost of Being a Public Company

23:57 Post-Cypress: Finding Women's Health and WomanCare Global

30:04 The Saturday Morning Epiphany and Founding DARÉ

37:16 Building the Team and Raising the First $800K

40:30 Outro

The Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.