Empowered Patient Podcast

Lynne Georgopoulos, VP Regulatory Strategy, Certara describes the company's platform to optimize pediatric drug development using biosimulation.  With an eye on pediatric diseases, Certara is employing modeling and simulation to determine how a drug developed for adults may be metabolized in children, including neonates. They are also operationalizing clinical trials to be more efficient and potentially less invasive which is important when working with young children. @certara #biosimulation #RACEforChildren #rarediseases #pediatriconcology Certara.com Download the transcript here

Dr. Romina Ghassemi, chiropractor and founder of Think Healthy is an expert on posture and is raising awareness about the need to address the health of the full spine along with solutions to address stress and related diseases. Her traditional business has been with the aging population to reduce pain and insure mobility. COVID-19 has increased the need to address the importance of good posture with more people working from home in make-shift arrangements as well as healthcare professionals dealing with long hours and burn-out.   #ThinkHealthy #COVID19 #stress #chiropractor ThinkHealthy.com  Download the transcript here

Mark Mortenson, Chief Science Officer, Clene Nanomedicine is combining physics with biology to develop its bioenergetic nanocatalyst drug candidates that accelerate neurorepair for patients with neurodegenerative disease. Using gold nanocrystals, the company is able to amplify bioenergetic reactions in patients that ultimately drive intracellular biological reactions. The company’s lead candidate, CNM-Au8, is a bioenergetic nanocatalyst powered to support critical intracellular biological reactions that repair and reverse neuronal damage resulting from neurodegenerative disease such as chronic optic neuropathy in patients with multiple sclerosis and the disease progression in patients with ALS. $CLNN #nanomedicine #nanotherapeutics #neurodegenerativediseases #bioenergetic Clene.com Download the transcript here  

Martin Cooper, inventor, entrepreneur, and author of Cutting the Cord: The Cell Phone has Transformed Humanity reminds us of the twisted path the mobile phone has taken from the early roots of beepers, pagers, and car phones to the current form allowing for mobile health innovations. As the inventor of the DynaTAC, the first portable mobile phone brought to the market by Motorola, Marty is excited about the work of Dr. Eric Topol a world leader in using mobile devices for promoting good health and disease prevention. #digitalhealth #healthtech @EricTopol Cutting the Cord: The Cell Phone has Transformed Humanity by Martin Cooper RosettaBooks (January 2021) Download the transcript here

Walt Ellenberger, Senior Director of Business Development and Strategic Alliance, SAP, sheds light on the new challenges in the healthcare environment as a result of COVID-19 on top of the move from quantity to quality of service and the changes already underway from being a doctor-centric to patient focused delivery approach. One of the biggest COVID related healthcare shifts was from reactively providing care to proactively managing demand. While clinical staff burnout has always been an issue, the pandemic has raised awareness about traumatic related disorders especially of frontline workers. @SAPHealth #HCLDR #digitalhealth #patientexperience #bigdata #healthtech #COVID19 SAP.com Download the transcript here.

Mary Henschel, Director of Home Health Strategy, PointClickCare brings an understanding of the value of technology to the long-term post-acute care (LTPAC) and home health environments. Looking at the spectrum of required care from short-term rehabilitation, to skilled nursing facilities, to bringing the SNF experience to the patient's home, Mary is focused on improving communication and information flow in traditional care models as well as working on creating new models for home health. @PointClickCare #homehealth #carecoordination #careathome PointClickCare.com Download the transcript here  

Dr. Nick West, Chief Medical Officer and DVP, Global Medical Affairs, Vascular Division, Abbott reveals the advances over traditional angiograms that Abbott is bringing to the market that change the ability to see inside blood vessels.  Using the Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) to examine coronary arteries, cardiologists are able to see high resolution intracoronary images to help make better decisions about necessary procedures. Creating a virtual environment using the technology from the Oculus-go googles, Abbott is conducting virtual-reality training .allowing VR-training to be incorporated on demand into the busy schedules of clinicians.    @AbbottCardio #OCTimaging #VirtualReality #CardioTwitter Abbott.com Download the transcript here

James Sapirstein, President and CEO, AzurRx BioPharma, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company specializing in therapies for gastrointestinal diseases talks about turning their focus to the virus that causes COVID-19. With a background in drug development for HIV and infectious diseases, James describes their approach to developing an oral agent targeted to COVID-19 long-haulers. AzurRx is working on an indication for COVID-19 of gastrointestinal issues that is showing that the Sars-CoV-2 virus stores itself in the reservoirs inside the human body including the gastrointestinal tract. @azurrx #AzurRxBioPharma #COVID19 #GIDrugs #GIDiseases #COVIDLongHaulers $AZRX AzurRx.com Download the transcript here

Christophe Bancel, Co-Founder and CEO, TISSIUM is determined to change the way body and tissue repair during surgical procedures is conducted. Rather than the old techniques such as suturing, stapling and screwing that induce trauma to the body, TISSIUM believes that tissue reconstruction should be atraumatic.  Inventing a new bio material based on polymer chemistry, TISSIUM is showing dramatic results in peripheral nerve damage repair where surgeons insert the nerve into a tiny chamber made out of the polymer through 3D printing. @TISSIUMtech #tissuereconstruction #bodyrepair TISSIUM.com Download the transcript here

Joseph Hernandez, Founder and CEO, Blue Water Vaccines identifies the underlying discover about the nature of the influenza virus which is driving the development of a novel universal flu vaccine that would be administered once for lifelong immunization. The economic and health implications of this vaccine include overcoming challenges of manufacturing, storage, allocation, shipping and administering the yearly flu vaccine, all issues highlighted by the recent efforts to roll out the COVID-19 vaccine. #BlueWaterVaccines #universalfluvaccine #influenza #flu #COVID19 BlueWaterVaccines.com Download the transcript here

Scott Megaffin, CEO, Adastra Pharmaceuticals has taken on the challenge of developing first-in-class innovative therapeutics for the treatment of cancers with high unmet needs such as high-grade gliomas.  He talks about the Phase 1b clinical trial conducted by the National Cancer Institute evaluating zotiraciclib, a potent oral cyclin-dependent kinase 9 inhibitor in combination with temozolomide in patients with recurrent brain cancer and possibly in the future to treat first-line glioma and other forms of glioma as well. #Glioblastoma #braintumor #drugdevelopment #braincancer #NCI AdastraRx.com Download the transcript here

Eric Rosow, CEO and Co-Founder, Diameter Health shines light on the new ONC Cures Act and the significance of the Patient Access rule that mandates interoperability technology standards for payers.  The primary purpose of the interoperability rules is to enable patients to have secure access to their own health data.  The rules also establish the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resource (FHIR) a standard to facilitate working with clinical data often characterized by inconsistency and presented in a variety of formats. @diameterhealth #Optuminsight. #healthdata. #FHIR. #HL7 DIameterHealth.com Download the transcript here  

Maina Bhaman, Partner, Capital Funds, Sofinnova Partners has a long record as a successful healthcare investor in oncology, hearing, cardiovascular and cell and gene therapy. She talks about their recent investments in Myricx Pharma, a startup from Imperial College and the Francis Crick Institute in London focused on inhibiting the NMT enzyme to kill MYC-driven cancer cells and Catamaran Bio focusing on CAR-NK cells to kill solid tumors by addressing the tumor microenvironment. #SofinnovaPartners #Biotech #Funding #CARNK #Cancer SofinnovaPartners.com Download the transcript here

Edouard Gasser, CEO, Tilak Healthcare comes from the video gaming industry and is applying his knowledge about engaging mobile game players to an audience of those suffering from eye diseases of aging like AMD, age-related macular disease, or diabetic retinopathy.  Using the OdySight game prescribed by an ophthalmologist, patients are tracked to determine changes in vision through a medical module and puzzle game with data going back to the physician and patient with calls to action when necessary. @TilakHealthcare #TilakHealthcare #OdySight #techforgood #ophthalmology Tilakhealthcare.com Download the transcript here

Adam Sabloff, CEO and Founder, VirtualHealth works with health plans and care managers to facilitate strong relationships with patients covered by Medicare and Medicaid. The HELIOS® care management platform aggregates data across the healthcare continuum to create a centralized patient record allowing for interventions and preventative actions in the most complex populations of the underserved, underprivileged and elderly people with multiple chronic conditions. COVID-19 has accelerated the use of digital health tools to improve outcomes for patients and reduce costs for healthcare providers. @VirtualHealth_  #CareManagment #HealthTech  #SDOH #healthequity #proactivehealthcare #COVID19 VirtualHealth.com Download the transcript here

Dr. Charles Keller, Scientific Director, Children's Cancer Therapy Development Institute is working with a diverse team in this non-profit biotech to make all childhood cancers universally survivable.  Filling the preclinical gap, cc-TDI is moving drugs for pediatric brain tumors and muscle cancers into national clinical trials. Charles also sheds light on the incentives and obligations legislated in the Creating Hope Act that insures childhood cancers though rare, are given the same consideration for study as adult cancers.  @cctdilab #childhoodcancer #pediatriccancer #cancer #braintumor cc-TDI.org Download the transcript here

Dr. Teresa Girolami, Founder and CEO, BelRed Internal Medicine and Co-Founder Sound Health Solutions is an internist in Washington State and on the staff at Evergreen Hospital, the first hospital in the US to identify the COVID-19 virus. She points out lessons learned about the use of ventilators, the value of testing, caring for those with mild COVID-19 symptoms, recognizing how obesity puts patients at a significantly higher risk of dying from COVID-19, and keeping safety features in place to continue to limit spreading of disease. #COVID19 #pandemic #coronavirus BelRedIM.com Download the transcript here

Dr. Jonathan Javitt, Founder, Chairman and CEO, NeuroRx talks about drawing on their work developing novel therapeutics for bipolar depression and respiratory disease to focus on a therapy, aviptadil also known as ZYESAMI, for critical COVID-19 especially those with advanced comorbidities. This peptide hormone VIP enters the alveolar type II rare cell in the lung and blocks the replication of the SARs-CoV-2 virus and the production of inflammatory cytokines. Available through the FDA Expanded Access protocol, this drug is showing a nine-fold difference in survival and recovery from respiratory failure compared to patients with best available standard of care. @neurorxpharma #aviptadil #RLF-100 #ZYESAMI #coronavirus #COVID19 #drugdevelopment #pandemic $NRXP NeuroRxPharma.com Download the transcript here

Lillian Phelps, Senior Director of Product Management, Availity shines light on the new HHS rules about price transparency for hospitals and health plans. These organizations now need to publish their standard rates as well as their contracted rates along with pricing for bundled services for over 70 specific services. As the nation's largest health information network, Availity works with providers and health plans to enable real-time generation of understandable data for patients and healthcare providers to inform better medical decisions. @availity #pricetransparency Availity.com Download the transcript here

Ian Chan, CEO, Abpro is developing a drug which is a COVID-19 neutralizing antibody that has demonstrated strong binding affinity for COVID-19 in a Phase 2/3 global trial. Using the Diverse Immune Platform, an advanced antibody discovery platform, Abpro is drawing on years of successful work developing neutralizing monoclonal antibody therapies for treating traditionally difficult to access cancers, eye disease and autoimmune diseases.  In addition to vaccines, COVID-19 therapeutics are essential for keeping the disease from progressing particularly for those most at risk. @abpro #COVID19 #antibodytherapies #monoclonalantibodies Abpro.com Download the transcript here