Empowered Patient Podcast

Dr. Rachna Patel moved from a career as an emergency room doctor to become a medical marijuana doctor treating patients with a combination of cannabinoids like CBD and THC.  She shares her insights about how the brain processes pain, how cannabinoids can reduce inflammation in the body, and how cannabinoids can impact the emotional processing of the pain.  Dr. Patel also talks about the use of cannabis in conjunction with prescription pain medication to better manage symptoms.  She is also the author of The CBD Oil Solution. #cannabis #cannabinoids. #CBD #THC DocPatels.com Download the transcript here

Jeff Stein, President and CEO, Cidara Therapeutics talks about  their antifungal platform rezafungin now in Phase 3 clinical development to address the needs of the vulnerable population of patients hospitalized for something else who get a life-threatening fungal infection in the hospital. Jeff also explains their Cloudbreak Antiviral Conjugates platform that is being used to target influenza and COVID-19.  Cidara is not developing vaccines or monoclonal antibodies rather long-acting drugs that are virucidal and that recruit the immune system to clean up the infection. He also clearly describes the differences between fungi and viruses. @CidaraThera @JeffStein #coronavirus #COVID19 #influenza #fungalinfections #antifungal #antiviral Cidara.com Download the transcript

Dr. Barbara Klencke, Chief Development Officer, Sierra Oncology talks about the development of momelotinib for myelofibrosis, a rare blood cancer.  Momelotinib's unique mechanism of action allows it to address all three key symptoms of myelofibrosis, including the debilitating anemia which can be exacerbated by currently available therapies.  The Phase 3 MOMENTUM Clinical Trial evaluating momelotinib for patients with MF is currently recruiting globally.  To learn more: momentumtrial.com #myelofibrosis #JAKInhibitor #ClinicalTrial #RareCancer SierraOncology.com Download the transcript here

Robert Ferguson, nutritionist, author, Health Ambassador to StayHealthy, and creator of DietFreeLife talks about the risk factors and pre-existing health inequalities in the African American community that have led to a high rate of infection from COVID-19.  Robert is particularly focused on excess body fat and the impact of what we eat on diabetes, cancer and hypertension. He emphasizes the need to be more health conscious and to resist peer pressure, questionable sources of health information and diet fads. @dietfreelife #COVID19 #StayHealthy #dietfreelife DietFreeLife.com Download the transcript here

Andreas Boeckl, founder, Dispersa Labs is bringing to the market Sula, breathable cannabis, which is inhaled from measured doses using a device that does not require combustion.  This approach to dosing medical cannabis for specific conditions like neurological disorders, stress, anxiety, PTSD, and pain provides much faster relief than edible cannabis and allows for more flexibility for where the cannabis can be administered.  Andreas also emphasizes the value of this solution for researchers who are studying the use of cannabinoids. @breathesula  #cannabis  #BreatheSula  #PTSD #cannabinoids Breathesula.com Download the transcript here

Laurent Levy, CEO, Nanobiotix talks about using nanoparticles and nanotechnology to destroy cancer cells by bringing a physics perspective to drug development.  The Nanobiotix technology has demonstrated improvement in the efficacy of radiation therapy for patients with soft tissue sarcoma, with an intention to expand across oncology, reducing the side effects and potentially reducing duration of the radiation. #nanobiotix #nanomedicine #cancer #radiationtherapy Nanobiotix.com Download the transcript here  

Nancy Hornberger, EVP, ElectrifAi, worked with IBM and the Watson Group earlier in her career. She brings expertise about data and the health care industry to a company that is using advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence to drive profit improvement, increase performance and reduce risk. We talk about the role of ML and Ai in helping to balance system demands by managing healthcare providers and staff and streamlining processes by reducing the mundane work of looking at raw data and images so that clinicians can make better and faster diagnostic decisions. @ElectrifAi #Ai #ML #COVID19 ElectrifAi.net Download the transcript here

Dr. Werner Rein, Chief Medical Officer, Theranexus shines a light on their evolving understanding of central nervous and neurological system diseases, the discovery of the glial system in the brain and the connection between the glial cells and neurons, and the drive to find compound combinations that can be modulated to treat sleep-wake disorder, cognitive decline and chronic pain. #CNS #glialcells #neurology Theranexus.com Download the transcript here

Dr. Andrea Madrigrano is a general surgeon with an expertise in breast cancer at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.  Dr. Madrigrano shines a light on how hospitals have determined what are non-essential surgeries in these times of the COVID virus, how women are dealing with delayed surgeries related to their breast cancer, alternative therapies that are buying some time for women while they wait for restrictions to lift, and the opportunity for research comparing results from current innovations with more traditional approaches. @Madrigrano_am #breastcancer #cancer #COVID19 Download the transcript here  

Daniel Cohen, Founder, Pharnext discusses how the French biopharma company is using its artificial intelligence (AI) driven platform to identify drugs that have already been approved which can be used in combination to fight COVID-19.  Dr. Cohen who lead Pharnext as CEO for over a decade has recently left that role to become Chairman of Pharnext's Scientific Advisory Board in order to focus on his true passion--maximizing the potential of Pharnext's Pleotherapy platform. #pharnext #pleotherapy #COVID19 #drugdiscovery #AI Pharnext.com Download the transcript

Maurice Zauderer, CEO, Vaccinex discusses pepinemab, the antibody drug being developed by Vaccinex for treatment of Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease and lung cancer.  Maurice also touches on the relationship between neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, and the commonalities that allow for a treatment like pepinemab to have a potential benefit in both therapeutic areas. @vaccinex $VCNX #immunotherapy #rarediseases #cancer Vaccinex.com Download the transcript here

Dr. John Poothullil is an expert on diabetes and author with many books on the subject of diabetes, cancer, and diet.  He shares insights about why type 2 diabetes is considered such a high risk factor for COVID-19 and how the coronavirus attacks the body.  He also discusses the challenges of identifying the correct antibodies to fight the disease and provides advice for people with type 2 diabetes as well as everyone else about social distancing, diets and exercise in these stressful times. #COVID19 #coronavirus #diabetes #type2diabetes DrJohnOnHealth.com Download the transcript here

Dr. Este Geraghty, Chief Medical Officer, Esri emphasizes the importance of location in tracking and understanding the spread of COVID-19.  Esri is providing geo-spatial visualization tools to world-wide public health organizations, hospitals, and businesses to help them see how the pandemic is impacting them in real time.  This GIS data is also enabling some existing predictive models to include a spatial perspective which can reveal new connections and hot-spots needing action. @Esri_health #Esri #Coronavirus #COVID19 #GIS Esri.com coronavirus-resources.esri.com Seeing what others can't Download the transcript here

Linda Fischer, Vice President of Product Strategy, DrFirst shines the light on the challenges of those who are fighting a relapse of addiction after they have received treatment in a traditional setting for substance abuse.  With conditions and restrictions created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of telemedicine is becoming even more relevant as a way to connect doctors and patients and continue the support that can be drawn from others fighting these mental health issues. @DrFirst #Coronavirus. #COVID19 DrFirst.com Download the transcript here    

Maria Picone, Founder, TREND.community and Shelley Bowen, Founder and Director, Barth Syndrome Foundation explain the challenges doctors face in diagnosing a rare disease like Barth Syndrome, the need to educate doctors about symptoms and warning signs of rare diseases, the need for genetic testing to further inform about the possibilities of a rare disease, and the work that is being done to inform patients and their parents about the resources available to support their efforts to find a treatment. @TRENDcommunity @BarthSyndrome #rarediseases #BarthSyndrome #GeneticDisease TREND.community BarthSyndrome.org Download the transcript here  

Dr. Gregory Frost, Chairman and CEO, EXUMA Biotech, shares his insights into the tremendous progress made in developing autologous CAR-T therapies, as well as the challenges that remain for cell therapies surrounding safety and accessibility.  EXUMA's rapid point of care platform has the potential to dramatically reduce the cost of CAR-T production for both liquid and solid tumors.  Greg also describes their logic-gated CAR-T technology which may help avoid potential on-target, off-tumor toxicity in solid tumor malignancies such as gastric, breast and ovarian cancers. @EXUMABiotech #EXUMABiotech #CART #CellTherapy #immunotherapy EXUMABio.com Download the transcript here  

Geert Kersten, CEO, Cel-Sci draws on his history working on cancer immunotherapy to talk about the opportunities for treating the COVID-19 virus by generating the right kind of immune response without additional inflammation.  Entering into a partnership with the University of Georgia Center for Vaccines and Immunology, Cel-Sci is using their LEAPS technology to apply their knowledge from work done with the US government on H1N1 to see if they can treat patients with coronavirus. @CelSciCorp #COVID19 #Coronavirus #Immunotherapy #TCells Cel-Sci.com Download the transcript here    

Dr. William Frey, Senior Research Director, Center for Memory and Aging, HealthPartners Neuroscience Center shares his insights about delivering therapeutic agents to the brain by-passing the blood-brain barrier.  Based on an unusual dream he had in 1989, Bill has been on the path to discover and patent a noninvasive intranasal method of delivering drugs to the brain to treat Alzheimer's and other brain disorders.  Bill also warns that we should be looking at how COVID-19 is reaching the brain and any long-term impact the virus might have. Center for Memory and Aging Download the transcript here

Sanjeev Luther, President and CEO, Rafael Pharmaceuticals discusses how tumor cell metabolism has recently attracted substantial attention as an area for the development of drugs to treat cancer.  Rafael is a company leading the field of cancer metabolism with their drug CPI-613 (devimistat) currently being tested in Phase 1, 2, and 3 clinical trials for patients with rare cancers, including pancreatic cancer, acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and Burkitt's lymphoma. @RafaelPharma #RafaelPharma #cancermetabolism #pancreaticcancer #CPI613 RafaelPharma.com Download the transcript here  

David Arthur, CEO, Salarius Pharmaceuticals explains the role of our epigenome and what happens when someone is suffering from an epigenetic illness such as Ewing's sarcoma.  A whole series of cancers can trace their cause back to the body misreading genes and that leads to dysregulation of genetic expression. With few options to treat Ewing's sarcoma, a rare orphan pediatric disease, Salarius is testing a new treatment that can provide hope to patients by inhibiting the LSD1 enzyme and effectively addressing the dysregulation. @salariuspharma #ewingsarcoma #ewingssarcoma #rarediseases Salariuspharma.com Download the transcript here